Chapter 15

Karakuri Island, Grand Line.

A huge explosion erupted from the Vegapunk lab after Franky accidentally pressed the self-destruct button. A large number of marine soldiers outside of the facility were alerted by the explosion, they gathered just outside the destroyed building. Seeing the facility was destroyed, the marine commander appeared to be angry of this unfortunate incident.

"Tchhh… how can the facility got destroyed like this?" The marine commander said in anger with gritted teeth. "People of this island treasured that lab so much. I will not forgive that Cyborg Franky for destroying this place!".

The marine commander then gathered his men around him and show him the bounty poster of Franky. He then gave a simple brief and information about Franky appearing in the Karakuri island.

"Men! Our target is a pirate called Cyborg Franky which is one of the infamous Strawhat Pirates member." The commander said while showing the bounty poster to his men. "This man was sighted in Sabaody under a week ago and some of the villagers report the sightings of him, but the sighting could be mistaken with a number of cyborg gorilla."

"I'm going to dispatch an investigation around the mountain and forest area." He said the plan and grabbed his gun to get ready. "Cyborg Franky could be on the run after he destroyed the lab after he destroyed this place into a rubble."

The marine commander then leads the soldier into the mountain and forest to search for Franky. Kitton and his grandfather seeing this, evaded all the marine soldier and quickly ran into the ruin of the lab.

Kitton and his grandfather only saw a lot of rubble from the facility entrance. They went to the center of the ruin and found a figure just standing in the middle of the ruin. Kitton then approached the figure and the figure is Franky himself, but with most of his outer skin is destroyed and burned, revealing his inner exoskeleton and some of the burned skin still glued to his body.

"Whoaaa…. W-Who are you!?" Kitton and his grandfather screamed, frightened.

"It's me, you stupid." Franky screamed, irritated about their scream. "Tchh… Most of my skin are destroyed or burned. I'm not comfortable with this state." He said and looked at his badly burned body.

Franky then found a lying tiger mat around the rubble and wear it. Near the tiger mat that he found there's an entrance leads to the unknown part of the facility that seems to be hidden in rubble and not destroyed by the earlier explosion. The cyborg, followed by Kitton and his grandfather, then entered that part of the lab and it seems to be another section of Vegapunk lab. The lab is huge and very wide with sofa and other comfortable furniture spotted in it.

"Hmm… It seems to be another lab and I guess it's Vegapunk personal lab." Franky said as he looked around the lab after he entered it. "There's a lot of blueprint and other high-tech object lying around… That doesn't matter, I need to find that Icebreaker ship in this lab."

"I hope it's not destroyed in the earlier explosion." Franky hoped that he can find the ship.

Franky and Kitton then looks the Icebreaker ship in this lab from corner to corner. Unfortunately, the ship doesn't seem to be in this place, as he keeps finding only more blueprints and high-tech objects. Franky feeling frustrated, punched the floor very hard that the punch created a small crater.

"Oji-san, I'm sorry that we can't find the ship."

"Tchh… What a waste of time." Franky said in anger with his fist is still on the floor. "Without that ship, it will take a me at least a week to construct a ship for me that capable to leave this place."

"But I can't do that. I need to go to Sabaody as fast as I can." Franky keep talking as his spirit starting to get more crushed.

"I'm sure my Nakama will be there in time so I can't waste another time to build a ship."

Franky then feeling defeated, took a sit on nearby chair and then hit the desk because of the frustration. The cyborg then got reminded the moment when he received the terrible news of Luffy's demise. He can't believe and was very angry because of that news because it was too sudden for him and he only joined the Strawhat Pirates not very long ago.

"Luffy… How can this shit happened to you." Franky said as he closed his eyes, feeling defeated. "You must've been through the worst and in the end, you died and I only know it later."

"DAMN IT! I'm so useless…" The cyborg said in anger and frustration.

While Franky is still frustrated and grieving for Luffy, suddenly a printing machine turned on and printing something. Kitton's grandfather noticed this and then took the paper from printing machine. The paper turns out to be the headline of the newspaper, he then read it.

"Hmm… it looks like there's another outrageous event in the Marineford." The old man said as he looked at the paper. "Firefist Ace returned to Marineford…"

Franky heard Ace name then quickly took the newspaper from the old man hand.

"Hey, Hey, easy there young man. There's no need to take the paper like that from me."

"Yeah I'm sorry old man, but I heard you saying a familiar name so I need that paper."

Franky then looked at the newspaper, saw picture of Ace and the news headline Firefist Ace returns to Marineford written in it. If he remembered correctly, Luffy once mentioned that he had an older brother named Ace. The cyborg seems very sure that this person is Luffy's older brother because he read in previous news that Luffy with Whitebeard Pirates came to Marineford to rescue Firefist Ace.

"So… This person is Luffy's brother…" Frank wondering as he keeps reading the news. "Why the hell would he returned to Marineford after escaping from that place in the first place."

"Franky then looked at the picture once again and noticed the 3D7D written in the Ace chest. A grin and a smile then appear in his destroyed and burned face. He then put the newspaper down and went silent for a moment to thought about current situation.

"Oji-san, what happened? I saw you smiling after you read that newspaper." Kitton confused about Franky sudden change of emotion. "It's very weird a second ago that you're very angry and now suddenly smiling and went quiet."

"It's a message about my Nakama." Franky explained his founding to the little boy. "It's telling me that I should not be worried about our promise to meet in Sabaody."

"Is that so? Then Oji-san, what are you going to do now after hearing that?"

"I'm going to stay in this lab for a week." He said in strong determination. "I'm going to build a ship in this lab for that period of time so I can go to Sabaody in the end of the week."

"Eghhh… But earlier you said that you don't have time to build a ship and need to go to Sabaody as fast as possible, right?" Kitton questioned back Franky sudden motive change.

"Yeah that was the plan originally" Franky said. "But after I get that message about my Nakama, I don't need to rush thing anymore and I'm going to build a ship in a week."

"So I need you and your grandfather to bring me a lot of cola for me tomorrow." Franky told his plan to them.

"I'm going to need a lot of cola to re-supply my energy to keep me going on building the ship and to repairing myself from this damage."

"Yeah I guess we can do that." Kitton's grandfather said without any objection.

"Kitton, you and your old man need to get out from this place quick." Franky said and he pointing at the lab's exit. "I'm afraid that the marine will find you hanging around this place and arresting you because of this mess."

"You hear that Kitton, we should get out from this place quick." The old man said as he grabbed Kitton shoulder. "Also young man, stay safe in this place and don't let the marine capture you."

"Don't worry about that old man, I'm always be super everytime and will not be easily captured."

"Well… Goodbye Oji-san. Stay safe okay?" Kitton said his goodbye to the cyborg.

"Yeah… Don't worry about it." Franky answered back the goodbye with a thumbs up.

Kitton and his grandfather then exited the lab. Franky then looked at the blueprint and the high-tech stuff around the lab. He's surprised again seeing the blueprints after he saw another blueprint before in the first lab, because the blueprints itself is very complicated and advanced to be comprehended by a genius human, let alone a normal human.

"This blueprint… It looks like this blueprint is about how he manufactured the cyborg animal to do his labor work." Franky astonished seeing this complicated blueprint. "There's also a blueprint about everything from battleship to human cells… Just what kind of guy is this Vegapunk?" He said while still impressed and felt a bit weird about the blueprint.

"With this kind of technology in this lab, I can build a boat or a ship in just a short time." Franky said as he grabbed the high-tech tool he needed to build the ship. "I need to work from now so I can leave in this week."

Franky then gathered all the material he needed and started the process of the ship building. The cyborg then thought about the earlier news about the crew promise meeting in Sabaody.

"I got your message, Luffy's brother."

"We will meet in Sabaody in 7 days."

"Luffy… Even though you're gone, I will hone my skills in this place to make sure that our ship can survive the roughest adventure."

"So Luffy, don't worry about Sunny-go… I will improve her to be the best ship ever and she will survive the harsh waves of the New World!"

Harrahetarnia, Namakura Island

The cultist successfully gets rid of the Longarm tribe thanks to the Brook support. Brook then ask them to make a boat as part of their agreement when the longarm tribe finally exiled from Harrahetarnia. The cultist agreed and they told the musician that it will took more or less 1 week to build a boat because they lacked of resources thanks to the longarm tribe keep plundering their resource.

Brook sit inside the hut where he landed few days ago, not moving a single inch and became quiet. He still grieving of what happened to Luffy few days ago, where he received the tragic news about his captain demise in the hand of the marines. Ever since he and the cultist exiled the longarm tribe, he locked himself in the hut and sometimes he did the degree pose so he won't be consumed in the sadness.

"Luffy-san… There's not a single day passed that I forget about that horrible news." Brook said while he staring at the wall.

"It's all too sudden for me to grasp of what happened to you…"

"I still can't believe it… Luffy-san, you're just too young to die…" The musician said in disbelieve. "Meanwhile, I who died after that Rumbar Pirate Incident, came back to live and keep on living."

"I guess life is not fair to each people…" Brook said as he picked up the newspaper about Luffy's tragic death. "You must've been went through the worst in that war and in the end your life got taken from you."

"Yo Hoo…"

Brook then became quiet again after that last sad Yo ho. Suddenly a knock is heard from the door and it's, Pekkori, the leader of the cultist, knocking the door. He knocked the door to ask about the musician condition and to deliver latest newspaper.

"Satan-sama, how is your condition?"

"…" Brook didn't answer to the voice.

"Satan-sama, we're all worried about you after you locked yourself in the hut for the past few days." Pekkori said. "We just wanted to tell you that we're still constructing the boat for you and it will take 2 or 3 days to complete"

"…"

"Also, I'm here to deliver you the newspaper." Pekkori said as he still holds the newspaper in his hand. "There's been an interesting news in the world for the past few days."

"I will leave the newspaper for you in front of the door."

Pekkori then put the newspaper down and left. Brook then opened the door a little and took the newspaper inside with him. He then started to read the news, and the moment he laid his sight on the newspaper, he's very surprised of what he sees in the headline. The things that makes him surprised are the news headline and the picture in front of the news."

"Isn't this man…?" Brook wondered about the person. "Firefist Ace… If I remember, Luffy-san once told me that he has an older brother by the name of Ace…"

"So this person must be Luffy's older brother."

"What is he doing in Marineford after the war? Shouldn't he be hiding or something?"

Brook then continues to read the news and then looked at the picture once more. He then noticed the 3D7D word written in Ace's chest. After seeing this he lets out his signature laugh, but quieter because he understood what's the meaning behind that word.

"Yo Hoo Hoo… I understand that message."

"I'm glad that Luffy's older brother knows about our promise."

"We will meet in Sabaody in 7 days."

Brook then stood up and exited the hut to meet with the cultist. He saw the cultist working hard building the ship for him and he observed them for a moment. The cultist saw their savior finally leaved the hut, feels joyful after not seeing him for a few days.

"Satan-sama! You finally leaved the hut and meet with us."

"We're very happy to see you. I was afraid that there was something happened to you in that hut."

"It's all fine everyone. I just need some times alone for me to not be disturbed." Brook said to the gathered cultist.

"By the way, how's the progress with the ship?"

The cultist then felt a bit down after Brook's question. The truth is they're also very tired from the building the ship since their resources of food are very limited. But they keep going on and on because they want to repay for what Brook has done for them.

"The truth is we're very tired, Satan-sama…"

"We have been working non-stop to build the ship for you, but we can't build very fast because our food supplies are very limited."

"Even some of us are not very energetic because of the fatigue." One of the cultist said in exhausted. "So I'm not sure that we're going to finish the boat."

Brook felt a pity hearing from the cultist about their current condition. He didn't expect that the cultist to feels so down because earlier when they manage to captured the longarm tribe, all of them is very energetic and full of spirit. The musician then thought about one certain song to help them calm their mind and mental.

"Everyone, I want to play one song for you all." Brook said as he's pulling out his violin from his suit. "This song can calm your mind and I hope after you heard this song you won't feel down anymore and you can return to your normal state."

"Alright… Satan-sama then please play this song for us."

Brook then play the slow and calmer version of Bink's Sake for them. He personally chose this song to make them calm and also for himself, to calm his heart from the grieving of Luffy's death. The musician poured all the emotion and energy to play this song while he promised to himself that he's going to be more useful and stronger than a normal musician.

"Luffy-san… I dedicated this song to you."

"You have no idea how happy I am when you asked me to join the Strawhat Pirates."

"But now that you're gone… I need to be stronger so I can support our Nakama."

"Luffy-san… I will not become a simple and normal musician. I will improve myself to be the best musician that my music can make our Nakama stronger."

Brook, still playing the music looked at the sky, hoping that he can quickly go to Sabaody as fast he can and to honor the late Luffy with this song.

A/N: At last, it's the final chapter of 3D7D of all the crew!

Next chapter will be about their promise day in Sabaody finally meeting with Ace. It will be longer chapter than usual one and there will be some roller coaster of emotion in the next chapter. The chapter writing will be longer than usual because it's longer and I found other things to do in this quarantine situation.

If you like the story feel free to review, follow, and favorite it!