Franky

Franky is the shipwright for the Straw Hat Pirates. He is a 34 year old cyborg from Water 7, and was introduced in the story as the leader of the Franky Family, a group of ship dismantlers. He was originally named Cutty Flam until he threw away his original name for his nickname per the request by Iceburg to hide his identity. Franky and his followers were originally introduced as antagonists of the Water 7 Arc against the Straw Hats until circumstances forced them to become allies. Per the request of the Franky Family, Franky was allowed to join the Straw Hats to fulfill his dream. He is the eighth member of the Straw Hat crew and the seventh to join Luffy's crew. He is also the second member to have been a former villain (the first being Nico Robin.)

Appearance
As a direct result of his cyborg modifications that he's conducted upon himself as well as years having spent as a ship dismantler, bounty hunter, and street thug in Water 7, Franky is a powerfully built man with a height of at least seven feet, and he is the second tallest member of the Straw Hats (the first being Brook). His forearms are relatively enormous while his biceps are comparably small. He has brightly-colored blue hair and blue star tattoos on his forearms. His choice of clothing usually comprises of a speedo, which causes people to call him a pervert, and an open loud Hawaiian shirt that has a large golden chain necklace around his neck. During the Straw Hats separation, after blowing up Vegapunk's laboratory, the skin gets burned off Franky's face. He also has a pair of sunglasses which he usually wears when things start to get serious. According to Eiichirō Oda, Franky most resembles a bull, he is represented by the color light blue (cyan), and he smells of cola. After the 2 year time-skip, Franky now has very short hair, in the style of a buzz cut. He also has two scars on his torso running down from his neck.

Personality
Franky is strong-willed, slightly crazy, and free-spirited, with an often blatant disregard for rules. He does whatever he wants whenever he wants, though he usually wants little more than to build powerful ships or protect those he cares about and at times can appear very eccentric compared to most of the crew because of his strange mannerisms and knack for building odd things (such as his Franky Centaur.) Depending on the situation and the people he is dealing with, Franky can be quite an altruist, as he is quick to defend other people and take action if his friends are harmed; he also holds the belief that no matter what a person is like, they should never be prejudiced or exterminated simply because of who they are. This often causes him to befriend and defend the wrongfully feared and persecuted. Because of his unbiased and protective attitude, he is quick in making friends and allies with the most unlikely of individuals, such as street thugs and pirates. He is seen as a 'big brother' figure, and is admired by many for his efforts to protect them, such as Nico Robin and the Franky Family. Monkey D. Luffy and Franky share some personality traits, with the exception of fighting needlessly, and both grew to respect each other during the events of the Enies Lobby arc, despite the disputes the two had in the past. It has been shown that Franky's personality can alter somewhat, depending on the beverage in his system.

Another of his habits is to refer to the 'current week' for exclamation as in "Of course I'm strong, and I've been especially strong this week" or "I've been like this all week".

He has a running gag of being unintentionally linked to "perverted" things due to a combination of his clothes, strange personality, and the situations he gets himself into. His lack of fashion sense seems to stem from the fact that his creativity leans towards crafts and mechanics, which would explain his style of clothing that usually consists of nothing more than his trademark speedo, a large golden chain necklace around his neck, and a shirt concealing his rather bulky upper body build.

Another running gag in the series is Franky's empathy whenever he overhears what he considers a touching story or moment, causing him to cry uncontrollably. While Franky will often admit to being emotionally touched, he believes himself too proud to show his overflowing tears to anyone, vehemently denying his weeping by hiding his face and calling everyone around him "idiots" for seeing him so vulnerable. Usually, his emotional tirade will culminate into pulling out a guitar out of no where and requesting for everyone to listen to a song he had just wrote about the story that has touched him.

Crew
Luffy appears to dislike Franky at first, largely due to Franky's role in the robbery of Usopp during the Water 7 arc, which led to the breakup being more traumatic for Usopp. However, during the Enies Lobby arc, he comes to accept Franky as an ally. Franky seems to have developed respect for Luffy as well; like the other members of the crew, he is sometimes exasperated by Luffy's childish behavior despite the fact that sometimes he's no better. He also has come to some understanding with Usopp after he makes him come to terms about the state of the Going Merry, something Usopp knew but didn't want to admit until then.

Franky refers to many of the Straw Hats by nicknames even after joining up with them: Luffy as "Straw Hat," Chopper as "Reindeer-Gorilla," and Usopp as "Long Nose,"; in Thriller Bark, when Zoro and Sanji disappear, Franky calls Zoro "Swordsman," and Sanji "Curly Cook," he calls Nami "Nee-chan" (meaning miss or sis,) and he calls Brook "Skeleton". He calls the crew by nicknames less often in the Sabaody Archipelago Arc, but he refers to Nami as "Girlie" over her objections. He only seems to call Robin by her full name. Of the crew, he and Robin have the most mature relationship between them, and he sympathizes with Robin's plight. Franky's bonding with Usopp also seems to have gotten better near the end of the Thriller Bark Arc, where the two helped together to build a freezing mechanism to bind the monstrosity, Oars, in place. Usopp also agreed to help Franky maintain the Thousand Sunny during the current arc. On the Thousand Sunny, they each have workshops that are side by side. His habit of crying during sad tales, however, sometimes gets on the nerves of some of the crew members.

Friends
His relationship with Iceburg is strange at times as the other man has never really understood Franky's often weird antics (even though Franky refers to him as "Baka-berg" or "Ahoberg" at times, "Baka" and "Aho" being the Japanese words for "idiot" or "moron" or something similar). His original goal to build a ship strong enough to kill a Sea King was always shunned by Iceburg who didn't understand why he kept building his weird and potentially dangerous ships. Tom however praised Franky for the often ingenious designs he would come up with. When the Battle Frankys were used to hurt the innocent, Franky denounced them as his creations, which led Tom to teach him the most important lesson about being a shipwright - that you must be proud of what you've created, no matter what. Furthermore, Tom announced that he was proud he had built Gold Roger's ship to further back up that claim.

Iceburg has only recently forgiven Franky for the part his Battle Frankys played in the framing of Tom, yet despite the differences between Iceburg and Franky, the two former apprentices of Tom are the best of friends. Iceburg was relieved to the point of tears to find out Franky was alive after he was hit by the Sea Train and equally Franky was enraged with CP9 after they told him Iceburg was dead.

Franky is well liked amongst the general population of Water 7 despite being a criminal, although he still commands a certain fear and respect (though the fear is generally just the town being afraid of Franky going on a rampage and destroying the town).

Enemies
Franky is an enemy of the World Government, mostly due to his early ownership of the plans of Pluton, but also because he later destroyed them and assisted the Straw Hats in rescuing Robin. Because he has a bounty on his head, he is enemies with the Marines. He particularly holds a grudge against Spandam for framing him, Iceburg and Tom for the attack on the Judicial ship, forcing Tom to forfeit his pardon for building the Oro Jackson to save them which he finally pays back by slamming Spandam's elephant sword onto him.

Franky Family
Although not related to him by blood, the entire Franky Family was set up by himself to look after the failures and rejects of Water 7 like Zambai. The group was very close, calling each other (and those on good terms with them) "sister" or "brother".

Other
Franky is the son of a pirate. His parents are unknown, they seemed to have been unamused by the creations he made in his youth, as they were the very reason he was tossed in the ocean.

Abilities and Powers
Franky is a human with artificial parts; commonly known as a cyborg. These modifications grant him vast amount of strength, so much in fact that he was able to successfully overpower CP9 Member Blueno. In adition to his strength, Franky has the ability to shoot fire and nails from his mouth, fire bullets from his index fingers, bullets and cannonballs of compressed air from his arms and hands; and making him invulnerable to most attacks from the front. His back however is still wholly flesh and blood and is therefore one of his greatest weaknesses; Franky did the modifications himself, and could not reach his back. Even without modifications, his back is dense enough to endure multiple pistol shots or a Rankyaku from a experienced Rokushiki user. His years of being a ship dismantler as well as bounty hunting seem to have contributed greatly to his formidable strength; even when running low on cola, he exhibits superhuman strength enough to overwhelm a charging, fully grown elephant - stopping it in its tracks before dragging it around by the trunk like it was a rag doll. Even without his cyborg functions, Franky's fighting abilities are more than enough to allow him to fight even against trained assassins. The fact that he could defeat Fukurou, a member of CP9, on his own is a testament to his prowess. His fighting style appears to revolve around boxing, but he does not hesitate to fight dirty if need be. Additionally, despite having most of his anatomy reinforced with solid steel, Franky has somehow made it possible for his cyborg body to retain its bouyant properties, allowing him to stay afloat on the surface of deep water, which would otherwise be impossible since anything comprised of metal would normally just as easily sink as a devil fruit user in the sea. It would seem that Franky is also an excellent swimmer, even before becoming the cyborg he is now. A fact made apparent by his ability to outswim the sea kings that he frequently tries to slay with his series of battle Frankys during his childhood. Using his Franky Butterfly, he can swim upstream in the waterfalls of Enies Lobby.

Franky's left arm is primarily used as a gun; a multi-barreled machine gun can pop out of his wrist, any of his fingers can fire bullets, and by turning aside his hand, Franky can reveal a cannon in his arm that uses his left hand as a targeting device. Franky's right hand is an iron fist beneath a more normal-looking cover, and the hand has an extendable chain that allows him to make attacks from a distance.

Some common attacks include Strong Right: Franky launches his right fist forward and can reel it back in with a chain, similar to Luffy's Gomu Gomu no Pistol; and Coup de Vent: Franky connects his arms with a T-shaped pipe and sends a powerful blast of concentrated air out that can destroy entire building complexes. Coup de Vent is his most powerful attack which incidentally uses up the most cola. Franky also has the power to turn into a centaur-like form with an extra set of legs strangely extending forward from his pelvis, though he has implied that its use is limited by stating he is "super powerful this week" just before he uses it. Despite his pride in it, it seems to do relatively little for any of his combat abilities, save for using his four legs to trap his enemy's limbs, leaving them completely at the mercy of his attacks.

In Chapter 404 of the One Piece manga, it is revealed that depending on what kind of drink Franky has it can change his hair style and attitude when Chopper accidentally hands him vegetable juice and tea. It also reveals that Franky's strength is many times greater when he has bottles of cola in his stomach fridge, and he needs it as a fuel for some attacks. His hair acts as a kind of meter to the amount of cola in his stomach being tall if he is full and sagging if empty. Franky's stomach compartment can hold up to three bottles, or six liters, of cola.

In addition to his cyborg-enhanced body, Franky is also a first-rate shipwright and carpenter from working under Tom. A genius of his own right, he developed a cannon-like mechanism that accumulates air rapidly within a confined space right before releasing it as a compressed air-based projectile powerful enough to bring down large establishments as well as provide a superb means of propulsion, which served as a template that gave birth to the creation of his Coup De Vent functions. He designed the Thousand Sunny himself featuring several unique functions like the Coup De Burst and Soldier Dock System, and has actually built an entire bridge over a large gap and even put in small details such as carved handrails in an extraordinarily small amount of time (though he wanted an extra thirty seconds since he wasn't satisfied with the finish). He can also somehow build stairs suspended in midair, and while they can support human weight, they do not stand for long. He calls this maneuver "Franky Skywalk," and was used fighting Oars in the Thriller Bark arc.

Tom's Workers
Franky's real name is Cutty Flam (カティ・フラム, Kati Furamu). He was born in the South Blue. When he was young his parents (who are thought to have been pirates) threw him off their ship into the ocean. He was then rescued by a legendary shipwright named Tom. Tom took Cutty Flam in as his apprentice. Tom's other apprentice Iceburg then gave Cutty Flam the nickname "Franky" because "Cutty Flam is a weird name". Franky learned shipbuilding from Tom, but spent most of his time constructing warships designed to hunt and defeat Sea Kings, each one named "Battle Franky" with a number corresponding to the order of construction.



When Franky was 12, Tom was put on trial for having built the ship that Gol D. Roger sailed the Grand Line on. Tom was let off for ten years so he could finish building the Puffing Tom, a train that could sail the ocean. After fourteen years had passed (ten to build the train and the first line, four more to build the other three lines the train uses), the Marines were going to let Tom off as thanks for creating the train.

However, he was framed by CP5's current leader, Spandam, who was after the blueprints for the ancient weapon Pluton, which had been handed down to Tom through the shipwrights of Water 7. Spandam used the warships that Franky had built to fight the Sea Kings to attack Water 7, and although Tom and his apprentices stopped the attack, it appeared to everyone that they had been the ones attacking. As a result, Tom was sentenced to death. Franky then tried to protect Tom, and stood in front of the Puffing Tom, which was taking Tom away. When he was run down by the train, his body was badly injured; he was presumed dead.

He managed to fix himself with spare parts from an abandoned ship and had "BF 36" tattooed on his shoulders, making himself the 36th "Battle Franky". Four years after his disappearance, he went to see Iceburg and was outraged to find that he had allied himself with the World Government. The two argued, but Iceburg gave Franky the Pluton's blueprints and also was driven to tears over seeing Franky was still alive.

The Truth of Water 7 Revealed


Four years later (when Luffy and his crew come to Water 7), Franky is introduced as the boss of "The Franky Family," a group of ship dismantlers. Shortly before Franky encounters the Straw Hats face-to-face, his band of misfits attacked an unsuspecting Usopp and made off with the 200,000,000 he was carrying. This incident led to an uproar from the rest of the Straw Hat crew, causing Luffy, Sanji, Zoro and Chopper to destroy the Franky Family's base of operations, the "Franky House," in retaliation (more so for badly beating Usopp than for stealing their money)., After Franky discovered what happened to his "family," he sought revenge and challenged Luffy to a duel. In the middle of the battle, the two were interrupted by the foremen of the Galley-La Company, who accused the Straw Hat Pirates of the attempted assassination of the town's mayor, Iceburg.



After Franky blew up a good portion of the dock with Coup de Vent, Luffy escaped the battle with Nami in tow, leaving Franky to deal with the foremen. Angry that his prey was able to escape, Franky concocted a plan to kidnap Usopp and Merry in order to lure Luffy out into the open. Franky brings both Usopp and the ship to his secret base, the old "Tom's Workers" workplace, and waits for Luffy to come to the aid of his crewmate. It is during this time that Usopp reveals to Franky that he had left the Straw Hat Pirates and had taken control of the Going Merry.

After a brief conversation concerning Merry's dismal future, the CP9's Kalifa, Kaku, Blueno and Lucci arrived and kidnapped the two men, bringing them to the Puffing Tom which was scheduled to return to Enies Lobby within the hour. On the way, Franky learned the true reason Iceburg built ships for the World Government -- to gain powerful friends who would protect him from any overt acts of the World Government, such as the trial which had doomed Tom. This clever tactic is why CP9 had to spend five years undercover and go through the trouble of framing the Straw Hats, instead of simply kidnapping Iceburg directly. Though Sanji and a newly freed Usopp (who at this point has taken on his Sogeking persona) fought to save both Franky and Nico Robin from the clutches of CP9, they were soundly defeated and forced to regroup with the rest of the Straw Hat Crew.

Struggle for Freedom at Enies Lobby
Upon reaching Enies Lobby, Franky and Robin were held by Spandam, the obnoxious and overbearing leader of CP9. However, upon hearing the voice of Luffy calling for Robin, Franky used a Coup de Boo to send himself and Robin flying through a wall and out to the balcony of Enies Lobby's Judiciary Tower. It was here that they both encountered Luffy and the rest of the Straw Hat Crew, who promised to take back their nakama no matter the cost. After hearing such a heartfelt decision, Franky decided to bet on the pirates and burn the blueprints for Pluton which CP9 had worked for the last five years to obtain. According to Franky, the situation now came down to whether the pirates could defeat CP9 and take back their lost crewmate. If Luffy and the others were able to rescue Robin, the World Government would be unable to use her in order to locate and build one of the ancient weapons. However, if the Straw Hats failed, there would no longer be any chance to resurrect Pluton and challenge the World Government's power.

Teaming up with the Straw Hats for the opposition against Enies Lobby, it was at this point that Franky's inhuman strength proved invaluable for the Straw Hats' in their fight to rescue Nico Robin.

Having defeated Fukurou and rescued Chopper, Franky managed to finally catch up with Spandam and Robin before he was able to take her to the Marine Headquarters. He removed Robin's shackles and helped her secure an escape ship because the Buster Call was beginning. Using his immense strength, he took Spandam's Elephant Sword Funkfreed and slammed it on top on Spandam, knocking him out.



He then cleared out all the marines on the ship, allowing the Straw Hats, sans Luffy, to commandeer and land on it. However, they were attacked by Buster Call ships that send in 200 captains and lieutenants to take care of them and capture Robin. As he was fighting off a rush attack of 200 Captains employed in the Buster Call, the Straw Hats heard a voice below them, and thus he followed them and jumped onto the Going Merry. He then later helped the Straw Hats escape by using a Coup de Vent, blowing the blockade of buster call ships apart and sent the Going Merry flying through it.

When the Going Merry fell apart and the Straw Hats gave it a Viking funeral, he was actually seen crying and on all fours.

Aftermath of Enies Lobby
In Chapter 431 of the manga, Franky said that his dream was to have a ship sail around the world built from the legendary Adam Wood. He also revealed that he used 200,000,000 that he stole from the Straw Hats to buy the Adam Wood and said that he wanted them to sail on the ship he would build with this Adam Wood. As of Chapter 435, he now has a bounty of 44,000,000 and as such, his comrades tell Luffy to take Franky with them.

In Chapter 438, Franky is seen defending his new ship against Garp's attack, until Usopp arrived. Afterward, he helped protect the Thousand Sunny from the attack by quickly escaping, using the ship's Coup de Burst.

Adventure on Ghost Island
After sailing for some time on the Thousand Sunny, Franky and the rest of the crew came across a mysterious barrel floating on the ocean. Upon opening it, a flash shot up from it. A storm then suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Franky, seeing the situation, decided to reveal another special feature of the Thousand Sunny, it's paddle wheel form. Using the paddle wheels, Franky and the rest were able to escape the storm. After braving a storm that mysteriously came afterwards, Franky and the rest of the crew found themselves in the presence of a ghost ship.

This ship apparently belonged to a skeleton named Brook who through by chance initially accepted Luffy's offer to join the crew. The skeleton's comments about the ship pleased Franky. Just as Brook was about to perform before Franky and the rest of the crew after dinner, a ghost appeared and some clanking sounds were heard. These sounds were caused by the gates of the island that suddenly appeared, Thriller Bark, closing. These events prompted Brook to head to the island before Franky and the rest of the Straw Hats' eyes.

With Luffy's resolve to go to the island, Franky decided to join him also. At that moment, Franky then decided to explain the soldier dock system more thoroughly to the rest of the crew. Included in his explanation, Franky revealed to them the Mini Merry II, a small boat built in the likeness of the Going Merry. This pleased the rest of the crew and three of them, Nami, Usopp, and Chopper, decided to try it out. When the three didn't return for some time, Franky and the rest decided to go ashore and look for them. However before they could venture to the island, Franky and the rest were apparently attacked by an apparently invisible thing. This thing tried to stab Luffy with one of Zoro's sword which Franky luckily kicked away before it could hit it's mark. The thing later left Franky and the rest baffled.



After the Thousand Sunny got caught in what was apparently a spider web, Franky and the rest descended to the island. There they met the Cerberus which Franky was somewhat eager to fight against. After Luffy tamed the beast, Franky and the rest met two more of the island's creatures. Franky caught the unicorn while Luffy caught the "Geezer Tree".

Franky and the rest then came across some ghosts which he tried to defeat one with Fresh Fire. The ghost was unaffected and instead passed through Franky and temporarily drained his will to go on. After Franky and the rest who also affected by the ghosts recovered, they pressed forward. Franky and the rest later met with some Zombies and defeated them with a combo technique. The group then met with a old man who looked like a Zombie, Spoil. The old man asked them to defeat Gecko Moria who had stolen his shadow. Overcome by Spoil's desire to walk once more in sunlight without fear, Franky was deeply moved to tears and agreed along with the others to help Spoil and the other victims.

After Sanji and Zoro are separated from the group, more zombies assault Franky, Luffy and Robin. During the escape, Luffy got kidnapped, and before Robin and Franky could attempt to save him, they on a bridge are assaulted by a gigantic spider that acts like a monkey. Franky destroys the bridge to flee from the general zombies. They are falling down, but then Robin makes wings of 100 arms and is flying in the air for 5 seconds. Franky uses Strong Right to safely pull themselves to the other side of the bridge. Franky complains about Robin using him as a stepping-stone after she climbs up ahead of him. Suddenly Brook appears from the sky. After Brook falls, the gigantic spider-monkey (Talleran)comes back up on the sides. Franky takes an iron chain and 2 stone pillars in order to create stone nunchakus, which he hits Talleran with. Franky and Robin are trapped in the web, but Brook defeats and purifies Talleran.

After the battle Brook explains to Robin and Franky how the Zombies are made and their weakness. Later the two save Chopper and Usopp from being killed by the zombies and accompany them back to the ship where they find Luffy, Zoro and Sanji sleeping. After waking them up Franky tells the whole crew about Brook's past and how he belonged to the crew that befriended Laboon. After that Luffy tells the Straw Hats to prepare for a counterattack on Thriller Bark.



After aiding Brook, Franky and Zoro proceed to assist the other members of the crew in taking down Oars. After being beaten down, he quickly recovers and teams up with Chopper to land a devastating blow. Soon, the fight against Moria ends with the Straw Hats being victorious due to Luffy's arrival and empowerment via his new form, Nightmare Luffy, and all those who had their shadows stolen get them back. Moria is badly wounded but not dead, Bartholomew Kuma, who had arrived earlier, reports this situation to the Marines and they order him kill everyone at Thriller Bark. Instead of following his orders however, he promises to leave everyone else on the island alone if they just let him kill Luffy, who has been badly wounded in the fight against Moria. The Straw Hat crew and the rest of the island refuse, so Kuma unleashes a bomb made out of air and badly wounds everyone. However, Kuma is moved by Zoro's decision to sacrifice himself for Luffy and leaves everyone to recover.



Franky joins the Straw Hats and the rest of the people in a celebratory party at Thriller Bark (except for Zoro, who had taken much of the damage Kuma had intended for Luffy and needed to recover even longer) where Luffy finally reveals to Brook that he is friends with his Nakama, Laboon. Brook then unveils a Tone Dial which has the last musical performance of the Rumba Pirates on it, he notes that now he has new friends in the Straw Hats, he no longer needs it and will instead give this Dial to Laboon when they finally meet again. Brook then asks if he can still join the Straw Hats and Luffy merely says "Ok," shocking the rest of the crew.

Franky then helps Brook finally bury his Rumba Pirate friends on Thriller Bark and makes a masterpiece tombstone for them.

An Incident at Sabaody Archipelago and Destruction of the Straw Hat Crew
As Luffy, Brook and Robin use the Shark Submerge to locate Fishman Island, Robin notes that the pressure is too much for it to handle and when they return back to the surface, a giant Sea Rabbit rises from the depths to eat it. Luffy quickly punches it in the stomach and a mermaid named Keimi with her talking starfish pet/master Pappug come out. Keimi says that its the 20th time she's been swallowed and says she's so grateful for the rescue she's prepared to sell them Takoyaki, although Pappug mentions she should rather give it to them surprising her and the Straw Hats greatly. Keimi then receives a call from "Hacchin," only to find out he's been kidnapped by the Macro Fishman Pirates, working together with the Flying Fish Riders. For some Takoyaki, and Keimi in aid, the Straw Hats agree to save "Hacchin".

However, when they approach the Flying Fish Riders' base, the original five members of the Straw Hats recognise him as Hatchan, a former member of the Arlong Pirates, and became more reluctant to rescue him. Keimi didn't know that they already knew Hatchan, and was upset at the prospect that they wouldn't rescue him, so she and Pappug decided to themselves, only to captured as well by the Macro Fishman Pirates. The Straw Hats change their mind, seeing Keimi captured and Luffy in particular hungry for Takoyaki, decides it can't be helped and they both need rescuing. Luffy orders Zoro to free Hatchan from his cage and Keimi herself is rescued, while they battle Macro and his crew and some of the Flying Fish Riders. Keimi and Pappug were glad to have found such strong allies. However, the boss of the Flying Fish Riders, Duval decides to personally deal with them. Duval, boss of the Flying Fish Riders comes seeking vengeance on the Straw Hats, Sanji in particular. While Sanji doesn't recognize him, Duval tells him his injustice against him was recent and fires harpoons at him, leaving him more confused. Duval removes his mask, and the Straw Hats are shocked to find he resembles Sanji's ugly wanted poster. Sanji is antipathetic to Duval's anger as he kicks him in the face. Duval orders his men to set an iron net on Sanji, as a Flying Fish Rider sinks him further into the sea. Luffy and Zoro opt to save him, but Hatchan explains as a Fishman, he will rescue him. However, Duval tells them that Flying Fish can swim even faster than Fishmen. Fortunately, Pappug points out Duval overlooked Keimi, and says mermaids are the fastest swimmers in the sea, even more than Flying Fish. Keimi rescues Sanji, but realizes he's receiving a serious nosebleed, although the Straw Hats tell her he's fine. Duval orders the Flying Fish Riders to sink the Thousand Sunny using a giant anchor, but Franky and Usopp utilize two of its newest features: The Chicken Voyage, which push the ship in reverse, and the Gaon Cannon, which obliterated the base of the Flying Fish Riders. Usopp is awed by the new feature of the Thousand Sunny, while Franky explained it uses two barrels of cola, while the Coup de Burst uses three barrels, totaling to a ton of cola used. Thus, the Gaon Cannon should be preferably used in emergencies. Duval uses his trump card, his love bison Motobaro but Luffy's "Haki" calms it down. Sanji returns to the surface and gives Duval a 'Parrage Shot', literally rearranging his face. This ironically makes Duval not only more handsome, but extremely pleasant to the Straw Hats and grateful (perhaps annoyingly so) and extraordinarily vain. He leaves the Straw Hats saying if they are ever in need, they should call him on his Den Den Mushi and sets out for his former country life.

The Straw Hats travel further into the Sabaody Archipelago and reach Yakuriman Mangrove, seeing soap floating in the air. They also witness the Tenryuubito, descendants of the twenty kings who founded the World Government commit atrocious and inhumane acts. Hatchan warns Luffy, and the rest of the crew, no matter what they witness, never to anger the Tenryuubito, lest they invoke one of the 3 Admirals with their authority. Looking for a mechanic, they stop off at Shakky's Rip Off Bar, where the bartender Shakuyaku, aka Shakky charges exuberant prices, and is seen beating up a customer for not paying. However, seeing Hatchan alongside the Straw Hats, she decided to let them off as she knows Hatchan, and considering the amazing stories about them.

She tells the Straw Hats that Luffy and Zoro, are two of The Eleven Supernovas: rookie pirates infamous for ordeals shocking the World Government, and wiping other pirate crews off the map, each with a bounty above the threshold of 100,000,000. She further explains that nine of the others are on the archipelago even as they speak to enter the New World. Luffy asks for a coating mechanic, and Shakky mentions Silvers Rayleigh who left more than a year ago. When he asks whether he'll be fine with the nine other Supernovas, Shakky says he's at least a hundred times stronger than any of them.

Looking for the mechanic, Keimi eventually gets kidnapped and sold into slavery, and Sanji calls Duval for their aid. Franky arrives in the Human Auctioning House with the aid of the Flying Fish Riders, only to find out Hatchan had been shot, and Luffy knocked out the person responsible Tenryuubito Carlos Sei with a punch, causing a major commotion, and the Marines to arrive. Silvers Rayleigh takes the chain off Keimi's neck,allowing it to explode in the water, angering Franky as he just found the key for her release forcing him to justify his efforts by tossing the keys to the other would-be slaves, setting them free as well. Franky assists Luffy and two other Supernovas, Eustass Kid and Trafalgar Law in dealing in the Marines, and Duval arrives with his renamed-Rosy Life Riders to make a getaway. The Straw Hats return to Shakky's Rip Off Bar. Shakuyaku is shocked to see Hatchan wounded and allows them in to recover.

Meanwhile, Rayleigh reveals he was Gold Roger's First Mate, and that Roger was never really caught by the Marines, but gave himself up after contracting an incurable illness four years prior, prompting his crew to conquer the Grand Line and seek Crocus' aid in fighting the disease. When all was done, Roger secretly disbanded his crew a year before his death, many disappearing and never heard of again, while Roger gave himself up a year later in the final stages of his illness. The Marines claimed they captured Roger, and used his public execution in his home town Loguetown to set an example to all pirates, but Roger's death started the very "Great Pirate Age" to this day. Rayleigh was looking for Luffy based on what Shanks told him about Luffy's personality being like Roger's.



As they walk away, Franky thinks about Rayleigh being the second in command of Roger's crew, for whom Tom had built the Oro Jackson, and says that he is glad he met him. Usopp asks him why he is the "elder-respecting type," and Franky retorts that he can be this way sometimes, not revealing Tom's connection with him. Shortly afterward, the crew encounters a man who seems to be Bartholomew Kuma. Franky attempts to fight him with Franky Boxing, but "Kuma" knocks him backwards and Robin cushions his fall with a Spider Net. After fighting for a while, Zoro pointed out it was not the real Kuma, as it did not use his Devil Fruit. After the Pacifista injures himself with his own attack, Franky notes that he also was originally human and can thus be hurt. Shortly afterward, the combined efforts of Nami, Sanji, Zoro and Luffy seem to finish the cyborg off only for another clone to appear, accompanied by Sentomaru. He tries to hold the second Pacifista, despite wanting to run away. Franky uses all his cola for a single Coup De Vent to send it flying back aways. Then the real Kuma appears. Franky is then teleported away along with the rest of the Straw Hats, one by one.

Straw Hat Separation Adventure: Karakuri Island


He was sent to a winter island known as Karakuri by Bartholomew Kuma. It turns out that it's the birthplace of a genius (revealed to be Vegapunk) and that Franky is specifically in the Future Kingdom Barjimoa. At his arrival, he meets two local people, and a cyborg dog named Taroimo. In some time later, Franky was seen being chased by the cyborg animals, and ended up finding Vegapunk's abandoned laboratory.

After learning of the war and Luffy's involvement in it, Franky is told by one of the locals about the story of Vegapunk and his lab.

Franky tears up after hearing about Vegapunk's struggle to make the island a better place. When Franky is told of a self-destruct switch, he rants on about why Vegapunk would put such a thing in his own lab. He then breaks into the lab to get an icebreaker-ship he needs to get off the island, but he is later chased by marines and cyborg animals inside. The marines are ordered to ensure that nothing in the lab gets damaged, since everything in the lab is regarded as a world treasure. Franky finds some blueprints for different machines that Vegapunk wanted to build, remarking how advanced the designs were. He then comes across what appears to be a pirate symbol and touches it, but it turns out to be the very self-destruct button he was told earlier by the old man not to press, causing a giant explosion of the lab. His blowing up the lab would later be known around the world as the "Nightmare of Barujimoa". The explosion apparently did not kill Franky, but, instead, blew off his skin. He is seen reading the article of Luffy praying at Marineford and somewhat understands what Luffy is doing and saying.

When the lab blew up, the explosion exposed the entrance to a second lab that Vegapunk had kept hidden. Franky goes inside and starts looking through different blueprints for various weapons. He then decides to live there, and put a tiger rug over his deformed face. He then has a flashback to when he built the Thousand Sunny and when Luffy asked him to join his crew. He then decides to learn all he can about different weapons to make the Thousand Sunny an even better, more powerful ship, so Luffy can make it into "the ship of dreams". The tiger rug then catches fire when he gets too close to a fireplace. He runs out of the lab on fire, frightening the marines who were chasing him. This became known as "The Legend of the Sacred Burning Beast of Barujimoa". He apparently managed to escape the marines sometime later and discarded the tiger rug, and was last seen working in Vegapunk's laboratory.

The Strawhat Reunion
Franky is revealed to have been the second crew member to arrive. It is stated by Shakky that he went straight to the Thousand Sunny.

Filler & Movie Battles

 * Franky and Nami vs. Hockera
 * Franky and Zoro vs. Pirate Ships off the Coast of Drum Island
 * Franky vs. cyborg animals

Anime and Manga Differences
Franky's adventure in Barjimoa is extended in the anime. After Franky learned where he landed, he got frozen by the cold. The men who found Franky took him to the hospital where the doctors turned Franky into a gentleman by giving him Darjeeling Tea since they didn't have cola. Later the child, that was with the old man that found Franky, tried to get his original personality back by putting Franky in the woods filled with cyborg creatures (he got the idea after misinterpreting what the old man said about regaining his wildness). It doesn't go as planned until a gorilla cyborg starts pounding on Franky as he tries to resolve the fight peacefully. The tea he was drinking boils as a result and Franky regains his personality albeit still low on power since the tea is cooling. After beating up the animals, the boy leads Franky to Vegapunk's abandoned lab. The two break in which activates the alarm and the two are quickly confronted by a shadowed being.

Early One Piece
Franky was created by Oda with Kazuki Yao's voice in mind because of his hentai-like character portrayal of his two previous roles of Jango and Mr. 2 Bon Kurei.

Translation and Dub Issues

 * When transforming, Franky yells "Hentai" 変体 (change of form / alternate form) instead of the more commonly used transforming word "Henshin". This can be confused with the same sounding word, "Hentai" 変態, that can be translated as transformation or metamorphosis, but more commonly used to say something is perverted or a pervert. Therefore, this makes his enemies think that Franky says "pervert" or "perverted" when transforming. Furthermore, whenever someone uses "Hentai" in other context (such as a certain battle formation used by the Flying Fish Riders), Franky tends to show confusion as if it is talking about him.


 * In Franky's bounty, his nickname is "Tetsujin," meaning Iron Man, but the furigana indicated that it should be read as サイボーグ, which is the katakana for cyborg.

Cameos and Crossovers

 * Franky has appeared in the game Jump Ultimate Stars for the DS as a playable character.

Merchandise
He featured in the second wave of the One Piece VS Figure Gashapon series. He has now featured in the Portrait of Pirates figurine sets.

Trivia

 * Franky has two Jolly Rogers. One (left) has been Toei Animation, and the other (right) has been drawn by Oda in a SBS.
 * Franky is a major and playable character in One Piece Unlimited Adventure. However, he does not appear on the cover of the US version, possibly due to not being featured in the English version of the show at the time.
 * In the game Jump Ultimate Stars Franky is playable.
 * The first ship he built that managed to achieve his original goal of beating a Sea King was the BF-35 (the 35th 'Battle Franky').
 * Franky also wrote BF-36 on his left shoulder, making him the 36th Battle Franky and implying that he can kill a Sea King. The latter is confirmed during Thriller Bark, with the reveal of his Hakugeki Hou.


 * In the Japanese only game, Fighting for One Piece, Franky's name was misspelled and written as 'Flanky' in the introduction to the game.
 * According to Volume 43's SBS, his birthday is March 9, which comes from the term サイボーグ (cyborg): サ can be interpret as "san," or the number 3, while グ can be interpret as "kyu," or number 9. This gives 3-9, or March 9. He also shares the same birthday with Shanks.
 * Before the Straw Hats arrived at Water Seven, Luffy drew a childish picture of what he wanted the future shipwright to look like. This bad drawing is similar in appearance to Franky.
 * Franky's favorite foods are Hamburgers, french fries and anything that goes with cola.
 * In the 4th Japanese fan poll, he came out as the thirteenth most popular character. While it is fairly high it still makes him the least popular of the Straw Hats. Franky's real name, Cutty Flam, was also ranked the 100th place in the same poll.
 * Franky is described as being like the father of a family.
 * Despite that Franky has a trademark soundtrack when he is in action, the soundtrack played wasn't developed to be a theme only for him, as the theme "Serious Battle" can be heard before in the series in Episodes 97 (when Luffy escapes from a Shandora Lizard) and 114 (when Usopp uses his "Usopp Pound"). Apart from that, the complete soundtrack has a first part as one of Sanji's trademark theme and the second part as Chopper's trademark theme. This is maybe because the theme was created in order to Sanji, Chopper and perhaps Usopp have a theme when they were fighting.
 * He's the third Straw Hat to have his own cover story, Franky's "This Week Is No Good".
 * His oversized arms and the use of a substance for strength greatly resemble Popeye.
 * In the real world, Franky would be from the U.S.A., a reference to Cola and his look in general.
 * In his original name (Cutty Flam), "Cutty" is believed to come from "Cutty Sark" regarded as the fastest of the "Tea Clippers," used to deliver tea on China's sea and other merchandise in Indonesia and Australia's seas in more or less 1880. It has however never been addressed by Oda is for now just a common fan observation.
 * In addition, the name "Fram" (as it is spelled and pronounced in many languages), could very well be a reference to the famous wooden ship Fram, a ship built and sailed by Fridtjof Nansen (a very famous Norwegian expeditioner and explorer). A very resilient and advanced wooden ship (much equal to the Thousand Sunny), accomplishing the extraordinary feat of reaching both the farthest Northern and Southern points on the globe. As Cutty Fram (Franky) is the man behind the construction of the Thousand Sunny - a ship built for a very similar purpose (sailing around the globe) - this is very likely no coincidence.
 * His pompadour, affinity for loud Hawaiian shirts, silly if not flamboyant behavior and high intelligence within his field of work are all traits modeled after Jim Carrey's iconic character Ace Ventura.
 * When he is not working in his room within Sunny, he keep his tools in his speedo.
 * Franky is the only non-human in the Straw Hat Crew not to possess a Devil Fruit.
 * Franky's current hair style first appeared in Mugiwara Theatre - Red-Hair of Class 3 - Sea Time.

Related Articles

 * Straw Hat Pirates
 * Franky Family
 * Iceburg
 * Tom
 * Pluton
 * Thousand Sunny
 * Nightmare of Barujimoa
 * The Legend of the Sacred Burning Beast of Barujimoa

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