Franky

Franky is the shipwright for the Straw Hat Pirates. He is a 34 year old cyborg from Water 7, and the former leader of the Franky Family, a group of ship dismantlers. In a recent Japanese fan poll, he came out as the thirteenth most popular character.

Personality
Franky usually acts tough and is quickly angered, but he is also very emotional when it comes to sad tales and often sings a song or plays a guitar to express his feelings. He looks after the other members of the Franky Family as though they are indeed his own family, so he plays the role of big brother to everyone. He even goes so far as to carry out revenge for them when they are beaten up.

He tends to say the word 'Super' while doing his signature pose. 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 is well liked amongst the general population of Water 7 despite being a criminal, however as a criminal he is feared by many of them.

Relationships
His relationship with Iceburg is often strange at times as the other man has never really understood Franky's often weird antics. 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 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, he announced that he was proud he had built Gold Roger's ship.

Iceburg has never forgiven Franky for the part his Battle Frankys play in the framing of Tom, yet despite the differences between Iceburg and Franky, two former apprentices of Tom care deeply about the others well being. Iceburg was relieved to find out Franky was alive after he was hit by the Sea Train and equally Franky was angry with CP9 deeply after they told him Iceburg was dead.

Luffy appears to dislike Franky at first, largely due to Franky's role in the robbery of Usopp during the Water 7 arc. However, during the Enies Lobby arc he comes to accept Franky as an ally. Franky seems to have developed respect for Luffy as well. He also has come to some understanding with Usopp after he makes him comes to terms about the state of the Going Merry, something Usopp knew but didn't want to admit until then.

Abilities and powers
Franky is a human with artificial parts (a cyborg) granting him vast amount of strength, as well as 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 years of being a ship dismantler also seem to contribute to his formidable strength

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/Gum Gum Blast) 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 buildings, his most powerful attack that uses up the most cola).

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 (six litres) of cola.

As of now, it would seem that Franky's right hand is for physical attacks and his left hand is for weapon-based attacks.

Tom's Workers
Franky's real name is Cutty Flam (カティ・フラム, Kati Furamu). 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 CP9'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 has on his shoulders tattooed BF 36 (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. Undaunted, Iceburg gave him the blueprints, which he had received from Tom.

Four years later
Four years later when Luffy and his crew come to Water 7, Franky, the future shipwright for the Straw Hat Pirate is head of the ship dismantling crew "The Franky Family," - the group also hunts bounties as a side job. A little before Franky actually encountered the Straw Hats, his crew mugged Usopp and got away with 200 million beri. That led to an uproar from Luffy, Sanji, Zoro and Chopper, who came back for revenge - and they destroyed the "Franky House" completely. After Franky discovered what happened to his 'family', he sought revenge and challenged Luffy his future captain.

In the middle of the battle they were interrupted by the foremen of the Galley-La Company, accusing the Straw Hat Pirates as the ones who attempted to assassinate Iceburg.

Because of that, Franky went and kidnapped Usopp and Merry, thinking he is still one of the Straw Hats, in order to lure Luffy to come to the rescue. Franky took them to his secret base, the old "Tom's Workers" workplace. In there, the CP9's Kalifa, Kaku, Blueno and Lucci kidnapped him and Usopp and took him with them on the Puffing Tom heading towards Enies Lobby. Franky was being held captive by CP9 along with Nico Robin but managed to escape and eventually burned the blueprints for Pluton that CP9 had worked for the last five years in Water 7 to recover. He teamed up with the Strawhats for the oppostion against Enies Lobby.

Having defeated Fukurou and rescued Chopper, he 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 lieutentants 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 Strawhats heard a voice below them, and thus he followed them and jumped onto the Going Merry. He then later help the Strawhats 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 Strawhats gave it a Viking funeral, he was actually seen crying and on all fours. 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 million berries that he stole from the Straw Hat's 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 forty-four-million Belli and as such, his comrades tell Luffy to take Franky with them.

By chapter 437, Franky is the offical shipwright for the Straw Hat Pirates, and became the oldest and tallest member in the crew, replacing Robin who was 28 years old.

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 Bust.

Current Events (Spoilers)
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 pressence 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 momment, Franky then decided to explain the soldier dock system more throughly 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. The old man asked them to defeat Gecko Moria who had stolen his shadow.

Major Battles

 * Franky vs. Luffy vs. Galley-La formen
 * Franky vs. Nero
 * Franky vs. Fukurou

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.

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.

Trivia

 * Franky is a major and playable character in One Piece Unlimited Adventure
 * 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.


 * 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.
 * In the Japanese only game, Fighting for One Piece, Franky's name was mispelled 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 intepret as "san", or the number 3, while グ can be intepret as "kyu", or number 9. This gives 3-9, or March 9.