AUTHOR'S NOTES: This originally came from a request on an anonymous fic thread, though it failed in compliance to the stated terms. The requester's preference was for a story in which Franky saved Robin from drowning, which might make a great fic in someone else's hands (maybe it already has!) but only gave me an idea for a four-parter in which he'd like to do that.

This fic has been betaed by Tonko and is very much the better for it. Any remaining mistakes are my responsibility alone. Constructive criticism and other feedback is very welcome.

SPOILERS/SETTING: Post-Thriller Bark

DISCLAIMER: The characters and situations of One Piece were created and are owned by Eiichiro Oda. They are used here without permission. This fanfic was written for entertainment purposes only and is not to be used for profit in any way.

Variations on a theme

A One Piece fic by Elin B

1.

He wasn't the type to worry and fret about dangers, Franky figured. He was more of a cool and relaxed kind of guy. If there were times when he might look thoughtfully down at the waves beneath them, then glance at a certain dark-haired and female member of the crew - well, surely there wasn't anything odd about that. Surely it was only normal to have such thoughts occasionally, when living on a ship in which almost half the small crew were Devil Fruit users. Reindeer-Bro and Strawhat would remind you of the danger often enough, as they fell in fairly often, especially Luffy. And Franky made sure to cast thoughtful looks their way too, as a good crewmate should. As for Brook, he was so damn super-light he could run upon the water, so Franky supposed he'd only be in danger if he were distracted enough to forget this. Then again, maybe that wasn't all that unlikely.

Franky had always been a good swimmer, growing up, and when he'd rebuilt and reshaped himself into a cyborg, he'd made sure to put in small air pockets and not use too heavy metals and alloys. These precautions made him light enough to stay buoyant, while his new power augmented his swimming speed. Still, Franky didn't think he was really the best swimmer among the Strawhats – that was probably Eyebrow-Bro. And there were some attacks he couldn't do in the water, or at least not without a really thorough maintenance afterwards, as they'd let too much water in among sensitive materials and circuits. Unless he could come up with something new to change that…

Which maybe he oughta do. After all, you could never trust the sea, particularly not on the Grand Line. Even someone like, say, Nico Robin, who had such a helpful and versatile devil fruit power and a great presence of mind at almost all times – even someone like her was still only human, and might get distracted at the wrong time some day. So it only made sense if Franky would sometimes muse and calculate, thinking up ways he could be even faster, more functional, and more reliable in the water.

It wasn't like he was still a teenaged boy with a crush, daydreaming about some girl being in distress and him being the one to rescue her, thus making sure she'd look at him with gratitude and love, realising he was the one for her… nah, wasn't like he was a moron like that any more. Hell no! And, uh… well, possibly it wouldn't be too terrible holding Robin real nice and close like that, with her heart beating against his and maybe her arms around his neck (as long as she didn't try grabbing somewhere painful…) He remembered when she'd saved them both back on Thriller Bark, gliding down on huge wings made out of hands as if she was an angel or something. After all, he'd only be repaying the favour a li'l bit…

But that wasn't it! Not more than maybe a little part of it. And of course he wasn't dumb enough to pay attention to some scary, persistent nightmares of his where her face was all blue and cold and she wouldn't stir no matter what… no way. That kind of paranoia would be totally unsuper.

No, it was just that it was an interesting technical question, trying to figure out the fastest, safest and most cost-effective way of saving someone from drowning at sea (and hopefully the most impressive way, too). Plus an entirely normal comradely concern.

Really. Nothing more than that.