I looked down at my wanted poster with a blank look. I didn't really know how to feel, or rather, I was feeling too much at the same time. The first thing I noticed was the picture they used. It was at a Reverie—maybe a year ago—and I seemed to be laughing with Vivi at the time, not aware of the photo being taken. Based off the picture, I looked like anything but a threat.
It was the alias—to those who understood the meaning behind it—that made me more intimidating: 'Phoenix's Reincarnate'. And my bounty had accumulated to a total of 200 million berries with the wanted poster saying only 'Alive' on it.
"Oi. Why is your bounty higher than mine? I'm stronger," Zoro snatched the paper out of my hands in an irritated state as he glared at the picture, "And what is up with this picture?"
I waved my hand dismissively, "Don't worry about it. My bounty's higher cause of my family status. It has nothing to do with the comparison of our strength."
"Come to think of it," Robin tilted her slightly with a curious smile, "Why do they call you Phoenix's Reincarnate?"
"Ah," I smile sheepishly, "They used to call my mother 'Phoenix', so I'm assuming that's why."
"Why Phoenix?" Luffy tilted his head as well with a confused face, "Was your mom a bird?"
I chuckled at his question and shook my head, "No, nothing like that. Some say it was cause of her fiery attitude and her free spirit and others say it was cause she was as dangerous as she was beautiful."
"Woah!" Luffy's eyes became stars as his imagination went wild and his jaw hung open in awe, "She must've been so cool!"
"I don't remember hearing the name Phoenix though. Was she not well known?" Zoro raised an eyebrow at me as he handed me back my wanted poster.
"She was within the marines and the government, just not so much the outside world. And if people did manage to run into her, they'd usually end up in Impel Down considering she only helped arrest people," I smiled and folded up the wanted paper, putting it in my pocket as I tell them that when it came to where she was allowed to go she was limited like me.
I'm glad I've begun to make a name for myself, but I'm not sure I want to keep living in my mothers shadow. I didn't work hard for this bounty, I was given it because of my bloodline.
"Nothing, but a spoiled princess."
What if Usopp was true? Had I been just a normal girl, would I have gotten this far? Would I have gotten the same bounty?
"Please take Bro at sea with you! Even if it's against his will!" The Franky family bowed down with a desperate and hopeful yell.
~•~
"I'll be the laughing stock of all the ladies!" Sanji wan on his knees in despair due to his picture for the wanted poster being a horribly drawn picture.
Chopper, on the other hand, was more concerned and angry with his bounty as he shook Luffy angrily, "I'm a pirate too! Why is it only 50 berries?!"
"Lets go, Bro is waiting for you!" The twins from the Franky family smiled at us and started to lead us outside.
"Luffy," Chopper caught our attention as he frowned at Sanji's frozen state, "Sanji isn't moving..."
Zoro scoffed at his—as Zoro would describe it—pathetic state before smirking, "Leave twirly brown there then."
"What'd you say?!" Sanji looked up angrily as he shook his fist at the swordsman.
I laughed and turned to Sanji with a comforting smile as I fixed the bag on my shoulder, "Come on, Sanji. I bet the new ship has a huge kitchen for you to use."
His anger vanished and stars replaced his eyes as he imagined what kind of kitchen it'd be and we all walked over to where our new ship was. When we got there, the only people we saw were some shipwrights from Galley-La and Iceburg, no sign of Franky.
"So you're here," Iceburg smiled down at us from the deck of the ship before getting down and standing in front of us, "Franky had to do something, but this ship is truly incredible!"
"Just show us already!" Luffy was shaking with excitement as Iceburg gripped the sheet that was covering the big ship.
"If you're gonna be pirate king someday..." The mayor began to pull on the sheet, revealing the ship slowly, "You'll need to board this King of Animals!"
"Woah!"
"The kitchen! Let me see the kitchen!"
"What a spectacle! I wonder what kind of flower the figure head is..."
"Ah...I think that's the main of a loan actually..."
Everyone put their two cents in as we stared up in awe at the new ship that was at least twice as big as Merry, but the exterior wasn't all.
"There's a lawn! Look at this grass!" Luffy rolled around in the lawn on the deck, giggling like a child.
"It's a slide!" Chopper was also enjoying the new features and everyone else seemed to have split up to explore.
"Hey Ice pops!" Luffy smiled at me when I walked up to him and stood near him before smiling down at Iceburg, "Where's Franky? We'd like to thank him!"
"He has no intention of seeing you guys," Iceburg paused before continuing once again, "Were you going to ask him to be your guys' shipwright?"
"Yeah, how'd ya know?"
Iceburg smiled slightly at us, "Well that's what he expected."
"He doesn't wanna?" Luffy tilted his head in confusion, though his eyes were glossed with curiosity.
"Quite the opposite. He's not sure he can turn you down if you ask him face to face," The blue haired man shook his head with a sigh, "That's why he left, but he does want to sail with you guys." He began to explain that Franky isn't allowing himself to leave the island because he feels like he has some sort of duty to fulfill.
"A duty?" I ask questionably as I lean forward more with anticipation.
"If you really intend to take him with you..." Iceburg looked up at us determinedly,"Do whatever it takes. Force him. That's the only way to set him free!"
Luffy muttered something about how this was exactly what the Franky Family had told us before grinning at the mayor, "Alright!" He turned to me and pushed his hat down further on his head as he looked at me with hopeful eyes and a mischievous grin, "I'm gonna force him to join! Wanna come with me, Y/n?"
I smiled with the shake of my head, "I'm gonna explore the ship a little, but you go on ahead! Don't let him out of our grasp!"
He seemed to pause, taking extra long to process my words and his brows twitched down before he smiled slightly, "Okay, save some places to explore so we can explore together?"
I nodded with a reassuring hum and waved bye at him once he left. With the boy gone, I went to search the ship. The first room I went in was the kitchen. It was evidently bigger than our old kitchen and had more appliances to work with, something I'm sure Sanji liked. I laugh slightly at the lock on the fridge and give the room one last scan before heading back to the deck to see what else there was.
"Ah, Y/n!" Paulie seemed to be looking around before he saw me and perked up. He immediately turned away though with a deep blush on his cheeks once he saw what I was wearing—it was completely modest compared to what Nami wears, but I guess it has the same affect—before clearing his throat, "Franky told me to show you a room he made specifically for you."
I shake my head slightly with a thankful smile, "That's okay, I'll wait till he joins the crew for him to show me."
"How are you so sure he'll join?"
A chuckle escapes my lips at the question and I shrug my shoulders with a proud look, "It's Luffy. That guy is capable of anything as long as he puts his mind to it."
Paulie smiled at the comment before he awkwardly cleared his throat again, "Uh...well, I was gonna give you this after I showed you the room, but I guess nows the best time." I watched him fiddle with something in his pocket before he pulled out a nice, clean caramel box, "Here. A going away gift."
Subconsciously, the corner of my lips lifted and a smile crept on my face, "What's this?" When I opened the box it was a miniature model of a ship made out of dark wood. On the bottom of the box was a piece of paper with a transponder snail number on it, "Oh?"
Paulie laughed nervously as he rubbed his neck bashfully, his face redder than an apple, "Well, I guess It's a thank you and a promise gift as well...I uh...wanted to thank you for encouraging me to start building instead of just fixing and I promise you'll be the first I show when I do create something of my own!"
"Thank you, Paulie. This means a lot," I smiled warmly at him and then at the gift before closing the box gently and holding it close to me, "Wanna check out the aquarium downstairs?"
He smiled with his eyes on the ground, "Yeah."
~•~
"If you want me to give this swimsuit back to you...then join my crew!" Luffy's voice was heard through the walls as it's muffled sound caught me and Paulie's attention, leading us to make our way upstairs.
"Don't be silly! You think you can make me join your crew just by stealing my swimsuit?! Nothing should phase a man!" Franky's voice became more clear as we were almost fully on deck and the sun started to hit both of our faces.
"I underestimated him! He's so sure of himself!" Luffy's loud, clear voice commented with a proud and ashamed look on his face.
"What are you guys talking about?" I was previously laughing at the funny conversation, but the conversation wasn't funny when I understood it. There, in all his glory, stood Franky. Butt ass naked. Everything hanging out. I turned away as blood trickled down my nose as I screamed at the unsuspecting sight, "Oh my fucking god!" I couldn't really focus on the conversation after words since I was trying to process what I had just seen, but one word, along with a scream that followed it, caught my attention.
"Grab!"
The naked male screamed out a loud scream in pain making it sound like we were cutting somebody off limb by limb with no pain killers.
"Ah! Robin!" Even Nami had sympathized with Franky as she leaned over the banister to see if he was okay.
Chopper slapped his hands over his mouth as he looked at the painful scene, "You grabbed them!"
"You're gonna crush them Robin!" Luffy's eyes were wider than it should normally be as he turned to Robin with a concerned look, "Oi! Robin! I want him to still be a man when he joins us! Don't rip them off!"
"Jesus Christ..." I shook my head with my hand on my forehead.
Robin smiled innocently at the cyborg, "If you're telling us pirates to give up on something we want, we won't back out unless you give us a good reason."
"I-I wanna stay on the island..." Franky's body twitched as his expression and voice portrayed his indecisiveness, "I wanna go and help you out but there's something I need to do here."
The people of the town started to try and encourage him by saying he was good for nothing and he needed to get out of their sight. Others joined in like the Franky Family and Iceburg.
The said mayor walked up to Franky and told him how he wasn't doing this because he had to, it's because he still felt guilty for what happened in the past, "Everything you're doing right now...is atonement. You're still referring that Tom was taken away because of you, but Tom has already forgiven you on that day and tried to guide you."
Something must've clicked on Franky's brain since his expression changed and his shoulders looked less tense. Just then, something is thrown at him from above making him jump away to avoid it.
"A bag?"
"It's all you're gonna need, Bro!" Everyone from the Franky Family yelled down at him with teary eyes, "Please forgive us for all we pulled! We're sorry!"
The cyborg clenched his fists with a hard look, "How can I, your boss, walk the path my followers paved for me?! Mind your business!"
After they had spared a few words, Franky fell down once more holding his privates in 'pain' as he cried while he rolled around.
"Go easy on them! You're gonna make him a woman!" Luffy looked to Robin to beg her to stop before he stopped in his tracks and saw she wasn't doing anything.
"How sly of him, to pretend to cry because of the pain," A soft smile crept on her face as she rolled her eyes slightly.
"Luffy! We've got trouble!" Zoro and Sanji jumped over the crowds of people and ran through the shipwrights and straight to our new ship. "Your grandpa is back! They're on the the other side of the shore! They're planning to attack us!"
"Huh?! I thought he wasn't gonna!"
"Hell should I know?! But we gotta go!" Zoro yelled as he hopped up onto the deck with Sanji following behind.
Luffy looked at the swimsuit before he smiled at Franky, "I'll give these back, so hurry up, Franky. Board my ship!"
Frankt scoffed with a grin on his lips, "Don't get cocky. You guys are total amateurs you wouldn't even know how to take care of a dream ship like this. I guess i don't have a choice! I, Franky, will be your new shipwright!"
"Yes!" Luffy jumped up excitedly with an even bigger grin spread across his face, "We got a new crew member!"