Franky Arrives
Grandma Angela came back to the Thousand Sunny with Cherry and Robin to meet Cabernet under Cherry's insistence.
That meeting went about as well as one would expect.
"Do you want me to make you some more cookies, dear?" Grandma Angela asked.
"Yes, please!" Cabernet exclaimed, after having eaten her third batch.
They would need to buy even more supplies at this rate, but there was plenty of time for that later.
Serene expressed an interest in going with Grandma Angela when she returned to Boulder Island. She didn't have a bounty with the World Government, so it was easy enough to accept even with the marine base on the island.
Over the next two weeks, Cabernet was destined to be completely spoiled rotten by her new Grandmother.
Robin and Cherry spent a lot of time gathering information in both the lawful and lawless areas of the archipelago. They used the false names Robert and Cheryll when doing so for convenience.
It was four days later that Franky showed up at the ship.
"SUUUUUUUUPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!" Franky shouted at the top of his lungs outside the ship.
"What the hell…?" Cherry questioned her own eyes when she saw him.
Franky had apparently been very busy these last two years, particularly in the area of his cyborg body. Cherry wondered if there was any human left in him.
"Ohhhh! If it isn't our very own SUPER archeologist and my favorite gal who fights dirty!" Franky exclaimed when he saw the two of them come above deck.
"You haven't changed at all, Franky," Robin said with a friendly smile.
"What?! I've changed a whole bunch, stupid! Just look at my action packed form filled with rrrrromance! I've gone beyond human intelligence!" Franky insisted with exaggerated indignation.
"Oh, it seems he went and replaced his brain too. I guess he's not a cyborg anymore, just a robot," Cherry commented.
"That's not what I meant! I'm a cyborg, through and through!" Franky shouted.
Franky hopped above the ship and immediately got to work assessing its current state and whether it needed any special maintenance to be done.
"Sunny is in very good shape! Someone's been taking proper care of her!" Franky noted after his cursory inspection.
"That'll be Serene and Merry. I suppose having a ship sheep that can communicate with the Sunny helped a lot with that," Cherry said.
"Mm, it makes my job easier so I'm happy! I mostly just need to refill the cola barrels with new cola. After two years they've definitely gone flat," Franky said.
"Oh, that reminds me! I have something to show off- I mean, show to you!" Cherry exclaimed.
"Hm? What is it, a gift?" FRanky questioned, suddenly curious.
Cherry produced her Cola Bottle Revolver, Fizzy Pop into her hand.
"What's that-" Franky tried to ask whilst leaning in, before Cherry rudely sprayed a stream of cola into his face.
Franky was eerily quiet for several seconds before exploding into a jealous rage.
"IT'S NOT FAIR! WHY DID YOU GET THE ULTIMATE DEVIL FRUIT?! WHY DID YOU USE IT TO MAKE A STUPID GUN?!" Franky shouted, gripping his head. "THIS IS EASILY THE SECOND WORST THING EVER TO HAPPEN TO ME!"
The first worst thing was his own Battle Franky ships being used to ruin his mentor, Tom's pardon.
Once Franky calmed down from his melodramatic temper tantrum, he immediately began thinking of all the possibilities.
"Well, what's done is done. How much cola can that gun produce?" Franky asked.
"The amount might as well be infinite, as I've never run out while using or testing it. It can also produce a number of different flavors and I can control the carbonation to an extent," Cherry explained.
"Good, good! With that we should be able to use the Sunny's functions much more often, I can't wait to play around with it. I might need to reinforce certain areas of the ship to ensure that repeated use of the Gaon Cannon or Coup de Burst don't damage her," Franky muttered excitedly to himself.
The fact that his own cyborg abilities were also powered by cola was momentarily forgotten by him. That just goes to show that Franky is a shipwright first and foremost.
Cherry just left Fizzy Pop with Franky to do with as he wished for now. Cherry couldn't deny him when he looked like an excited child in a candy store.
…
"Hey, did you hear the rumors?" A pirate spoke in a hushed tone.
"Yeah, Straw Hat Luffy is back on the archipelago. I heard he was recruiting for his crew. Only pirates with a minimum 70 million Beri bounty, though." The pirate across from the first whispered.
"Cheryll" and "Robert" who happened to be nearby overheard the conversation from the next booth over. These were naturally the disguised forms of Cherry and Robin.
It's been about a week since Franky arrived and the promised time to meet would soon be upon them. There was no sign of the others yet, except Brook for whom there were literal signs about a concert of his, but there were still a few days left. Not that Luffy would just set sail without them, even if they were late.
"Hey, tell me more about that, friend?" Cherry spun around in her seat to face the two pirates.
Seeing a woman paying attention to them, especially one who was pretty cute by pirate standards, they straightened their backs and squared their chests.
"Right, Straw Hat Luffy. The very same one who stormed Marineford with Whitebeard to save Firefist Ace!" The first pirate nodded.
"I wouldn't go looking for him if I were you, though. From what I've heard, he's even more ruthless than before. Instead, you should come join our crew. We'll treat you very well!" The second pirate stated.
"Yeah, our captain has a bounty of 60 million Beri, you know! Big enough to be strong, but not too big to attract the marines' attention!" The first pirate said, like a used ship salesman trying to seal a deal.
"I don't know if my boyfriend would like that…" Cherry spoke with uncertainty.
"Forget him, I'm sure he's just some loser anyways!" The second pirate insisted.
"Jim…" The first pirate spoke in a low voice.
The second pirate, Jim, turned his head at the sound of his name to the first pirate, Gim. The first pirate had a dagger held to his throat by a bearded man in sunglasses.
A dainty hand with monstrous grip strength latched onto Jim's throat from behind.
"You're going to answer all our questions as truthfully as you can. If you play nice and don't lie, both of you can leave here with your necks intact. Capiche?" Cherry spoke coldly.
Jim and Gim nodded with minimal movement to indicate their understanding.
…
The two no name pirates fled the shady bar after they were released from their interrogation.
"What do you think, Robert?" Cherry asked, sipping on a martini that was surprisingly quite good despite the seemingly poor quality of the bar.
"That's definitely a copycat. Luffy wouldn't act that way or recruit new members in that fashion," Robin stated her opinion confidently.
"Not even a good copycat from the sounds of it. There's just one question, then. Do we have a bit of fun with them or do we ruin them?" Cherry asked.
"Aren't those two options the same thing to you?" Robin raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"Of course they aren't. When have I ever ruined anyone?" Cherry asked honestly.
Robin stared at her disbelievingly before she realized that Cherry was serious.
Several faces of people that Cherry has traumatized flashed through her mind and she shivered at the thought that she still only considered that "having a bit of fun" with them.
"We should keep things light hearted I think. No need to sour the coming reunion," Robin said, doing a bigger favor for the copycats than they would ever know.