Cutty Flam was born to a pair of pirates somewhere in the South Blue 36 years ago.[4] When he was ten years old, his parents threw him off their ship into the ocean. He was then rescued by the legendary shipwright Tom, who made Cutty Flam his apprentice after seeing the boy make a cannon out of scrap that was lying about.[17] 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 he 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. He once proclaimed he would make his own dream ship with him as the shipwright, to which Tom said that if he could do that, he would definitely surpass him.
Around this time, Tom was visited by the Roger Pirates during their final voyage. One of the members of this crew, Kozuki Oden, invited Franky into their crew, but Franky quickly declined the offer, stating his distrust in pirates because of his parents and his refusal to become one himself.[18]
When Franky was 12 years old, Tom was put on trial for having built the Oro Jackson, the ship on which the Pirate King Gold Roger sailed the Grand Line. Tom made a deal that he would be pardoned if he could build the Sea TrainPuffing Tom in ten years.[19][20] 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, when Franky was 26 years old, he was framed by CP5'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,[21] and although Tom and his apprentices stopped the attack, it appeared to everyone that they had been the ones attacking.[22] As a result, Tom was sentenced to death. As Spandam was taking Tom away, Franky hit him in the face with a rifle. The young man later stood in front of the Puffing Tom, trying to rescue Tom.[23] When Franky 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 had "BF 36" tattooed on his shoulders, 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. The two argued, but Iceburg gave Franky the Pluton's blueprints and also was driven to tears over seeing Franky was still alive. Iceburg then told Franky to leave Water 7 so the blueprints would never be found. He refused saying it was his decision to stay or not to, which then made Iceburg angry and caused an argument between them.[24]
Franky went into the backstreets where Zambai and his gang attacked him when he entered their turf. They quickly were defeated and the turf was taken over by Franky. He then found Mozu and Kiwi drinking in the middle of the day and he proceeded to drag them away for some cola and recruited them as his followers. He then took them to the newly made Franky House where he formed the Franky Family. With them he became Water 7's underground mafia leader. He stole from incoming pirates, dismantled ships and became known as a crook on Water 7. While he did indeed do some immoral actions (stealing from good pirates as well, like he would one day do to the Straw Hats) he mostly did all of those out of a sense of atonement. He constantly blamed himself for Tom's death and decided to spend the rest of his days on Water 7, attacking incoming thieves and looters, organizing all the thugs so that he could keep the city crime in check, and overall protecting the city that Tom loved. He, at that point, was never able to forgive himself for what happened to Tom.
During his years with the Franky Family, he also worked to gather enough money to purchase the precious Adam Wood to accomplish his dream.
Water 7 Saga
Water 7 Arc
Four years later (when Luffy and his crew arrived on Water 7), Franky was introduced as the boss of "The Franky Family," a group of ship dismantlers. Shortly before Franky encountered the Straw Hats face-to-face, his band of misfits attacked an unsuspecting Usopp and made off with the 200,000,000 he was carrying. This incident led to an uproar from the rest of the Straw Hat crew, causing Luffy, Sanji, Zoro and Chopper to destroy the Franky Family's base of operations, the "Franky House," in retaliation (more so for badly beating Usopp than for stealing their money).
After Franky discovered what happened to his "family," he sought revenge and challenged Luffy to a duel. In the middle of the battle, the two were interrupted by the foremen of the Galley-La Company, who accused the Straw Hat Pirates of the attempted assassination of the town's mayor, Iceburg. After Franky blew up a good portion of the dock with Coup de Vent, Luffy escaped the battle with Nami in tow, leaving Franky to deal with the foremen. Angry that his prey was able to escape, Franky concocted a plan to kidnap Usopp and Merry in order to lure Luffy out into the open.
Franky brought both Usopp and the ship to his secret base, the old "Tom's Workers" workplace with Mozu and Kiwi, and waited for Luffy to come to the aid of his crewmate. It is during this time that Usopp reveals to Franky that he had left the Straw Hat Pirates and had taken control of the Going Merry. When Usopp revealed his plans to sail back to the East Blue, Franky revealed he knew that the ship was doomed as he saw the damage personally when he was hauling the Merry up and determined that Galley-La's evaluation was accurate.[25] An enraged Usopp persisted that he was going to fix the Merry no matter what, leading Franky to ask why. After hearing Usopp's story about the mysterious figure he saw repairing the Merry at Skypiea, Franky explained to Usopp about the legend of the Klabautermann, a spirit that inhabits ships that are dearly cared for. The spirit repaired the Merry just enough for them to reach the next island, which brought Usopp to tears, knowing that he was right about the Merry. After a brief conversation concerning Merry's dismal future, the CP9's Kalifa, Kaku, Blueno and Rob Lucci arrived and kidnapped the two men after knocking out the Square Sisters, bringing them to the Puffing Tom which was scheduled to return to Enies Lobby within the hour.[26]
Sanji, who had snuck aboard before the train left, fought his way through another train car and found Usopp and Franky. After freeing them both, he contacts Nami, who fills them in on the situation with Robin. As a result, Franky learned the true reason Iceburg built ships for the World Government - to gain powerful friends who would protect him from any overt acts of the World Government, such as the trial which had doomed Tom. This clever tactic is why CP9 had to spend five years undercover and go through the trouble of framing the Straw Hats, instead of simply kidnapping Iceburg directly. After realizing this and being moved by their story, Franky openly agreed to help Sanji get Robin back.[27] Though Sanji and a newly freed Usopp (who at this point has taken on his Sogeking persona) agreed to fight together to save Nico Robin from the clutches of CP9. Together, the three of them trick most of the agents and Marines onboard into the last two cars, and then proceed to detach them.[28]
After detaching the cars, the trio continue into the dining car, where they meet the agent guarding it, Wanze, who Sanji decides to deal with so the Franky and Sogeking can move on. As they go outside, the two split up, with Franky going onto the roof of the next car. As Franky goes to the roof, he is greeted by Nero, who was disappointed by Franky's arrival, since he is not allowed to kill him.[29] Franky lands the first hit after tricking Nero into looking behind, stating that he likes to play dirty. As the two fight, they are confused by each other abilities. When Nero launches himself into the air to evade Franky's attack, Franky pretends to run to next car. As Nero leaps back to the train, Franky fires at him again, but this time Nero dodges and maneuvers behind Franky. He fires his pistols at Franky's back, stating that he found his weakness. In order to deal with this, Franky lays flat on his back, confusing Nero. He then asks Nero if he's ever heard of a centaur, as Franky uses his Franky Kentauros technique to transform into one, with a surprised Nero stating that he became the opposite of a Centaur.[30] Despite the transformation not being helpful at first, as Franky ends up on the edge of the car, when Nero offers to help him back up, Franky flips himself back up and pins Nero's arms and legs down to the roof. With Nero unable to move, Franky hits Nero in the face with his Ultimate Hammer, breaking the roof and dropping them both into the car, where both Sanji and CP9 are in.[31]
As Franky and Sanji face CP9, Nero gets back up, stating that he would kill Franky, however Rob Lucci coldly states that Franky needs to be captured alive, as he gives Nero three seconds to run for his weakness. Nero tried to run, but Lucci was faster and stabbed Nero multiple times in the back, which ended with Nero flying through the window into the storm, which shocked Sanji and Franky. Lucci goes on to tell them that it is worthless trying to save Robin, as he states that she has the ability to awaken one of the Ancient Weapons. As a angry Sanji attacks Lucci, Robin enters the room with Sogeking, and throws him stating that her words appear to be meaningless to them, confusing Sanji and Franky. Despite this, Sogeking tells Franky to detach the third car as he throws a smoke star, and grabs Robin as the four make their escape.[32]
As they make it back to the detached third car, they are then immediately stopped by Kalifa and Blueno, who reconnects the cars. As Sanji attempts to fight Blueno, Robin once again attacks Sogeking, telling them that this is her business, not theirs. As Sanji and Sogeking are knocked back, Franky decides to stand between them and CP9. He gives them a chance to escape by shoving the front of the train into the second car, sacrificing his own freedom in the process. He then explains to CP9 that he couldn't let her stay captured while they were trying to rescue her, and he then calls out to them that he has a plan of his own. Unfortunately for Franky, his efforts were in vain, as CP9 were successful in recapturing Robin, thanks to Blueno's devil fruit ability. As Sanji and Usopp were soundly defeated and left stranded, the recaptured Franky and Robin, alongside CP9 had finally reached Enies Lobby.[33]
Enies Lobby Arc
Upon reaching Enies Lobby, Franky and Robin were held by Spandam, the obnoxious and overbearing leader of CP9. The two endured Spandam's abuse and taunts, with Franky less than surprised when he told Robin that the Straw Hats had arrived and that he had no intention of keeping his word to leave them alone as they storm Enies Lobby with a large group of allies. Spandam later decided to boast to the two about how things were going, only to find out that the Straw Hats' group had reached the courthouse and that Luffy himself made it to the roof.[34] Upon hearing the voice of Luffy calling for Robin, Franky used a Coup de Boo to send himself and Robin flying through a wall and out to the balcony of Enies Lobby's Judiciary Tower. It was here that they both encountered Luffy and the rest of the Straw Hat Crew, who promised to take back their friend at any cost.[35]
After hearing such a heartfelt decision, Franky decided to bet on the pirates and revealed to Spandam that the blueprints for Pluton were kept in his body the whole time. As Spandam tells Franky to give the blueprints to him, he explains to Robin that he knew that she didn't want to awaken Pluton like many believe, but that as long as she was around the possibility exists, which is why Tom and Iceburg worked so hard to keep them from falling into the wrong hands. After stating all of this, Franky burns the blueprints for Pluton which CP9 had worked for the last five years to obtain. According to Franky, the situation now came down to whether the pirates could defeat CP9 and take back their lost crewmate. If Luffy and the others were able to rescue Robin, the World Government would be unable to use her in order to locate and build one of the ancient weapons. However, if the Straw Hats failed, there would no longer be any chance to resurrect Pluton and challenge the World Government's power. This pissed Spandam off enough to push Franky off the balcony, luckily for Franky, both him and the Straw Hats, who jumped down from the roof, were rescued by Kokoro, Chimney, and Gonbe; who caught them all on the Rocketman and proceeded to ram the train into the tower.[36]
After exchanging some words with Luffy who still upset with Franky over everything that happened on Water 7, Franky offically teams up with the Straw Hats for the opposition against Enies Lobby. After this Fukurou, one of the CP9 agents arrives and tells them all that each member of CP9 has a key that could possibly unlock Nico Robin's handcuffs and that if they wanted to save her, they would have to fight each member for their keys. As Franky searched for cola, so he recharge, his opponent ended up being the very agent that told them about the keys, Fukurou.
At first, Franky had a hard time fighting Fukurou due to being low on cola. Despite being low on cola, Franky continued his fight with Fukurou, who was surprised that Franky's punches could hurt him through his Tekkai. Fukurou began dodging all of Franky's attacks until Franky called him a coward. The two traded punches and insults and crashed through the floor into a kitchen. Fukurou then repeatedly pounded the weakened Franky, who was officially out of cola. Luckily Chopper was there to give Franky what he needed.[37] Re-energized, Franky evens the odds and strikes Fukurou with a fully powered punch, enraging him in the process. As their fight continued, Fukurou smashed into Franky, sending them both crashing into the water outside of the tower.
Fukurou escaped the current with Geppo and, when Franky attempted to swim upstream, he knocked him back underwater. When Franky launched himself into the air, Fukurou kicked him down again but Franky extended his arm and grabbed Fukurou's leg, dragging him down too. Fukurou managed to keep them aloft with one-legged Geppo and slowly made their way to shore. Fukurou stated he would end the fight with one blow, to which Franky said he would too. As Fukurou continues to take himself and Franky into the air, he decides to finish things quickly by using Tekkai Dama to spin Franky into the Tower of Justice, however Franky uses a Coup de Vent to stop the spinning and then another to blast Fukurou into the ground, finally defeating him.[38]
Even though it was a difficult battle, Franky took Fukurou's key, being victorious in the end. Afterwards, Franky began to climb his way back into the tower, eventually reaching the room where he left Chopper. When Chopper transformed into Monster Point and went on a rampage, Franky tried and failed to talked to him, so he followed him to Nami's location, where he was surprised to see she defeated Kalifa. Franky then tells her about Chopper, as well as Zoro and Sogeking's situation, and works a plan out with Nami. As the out of control Chopper reached Zoro and Sogeking's location, Franky arrives in time, before shooting Chopper into the sea to negate his Devil Fruit abilities, and explaining to the two that it was Nami's idea before going to rescue him.[39]
After rescuing Chopper, Franky goes after Spandam and Robin through a hidden passageway, shown to him by Kokoro, Chimney, and Gonbe. He then ran into a battle between Luffy and Lucci. Luffy was able to hold Lucci back long enough for Franky to escape.[40] When he reached the Bridge of Hesitation, he stepped on a land mine set by Spandam as a precaution. Regardless, Franky managed to finally catch up with Spandam and Robin just in time to shield Robin from gun fire.[41] 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), alongside Kokoro, Chimney, and Gonbe to commandeer and land on it. However, they were attacked by Buster Call ships that send in 200 captains and lieutenants to take care of them and capture Robin.
With Luffy and Lucci's battle finally ending in Luffy's hard earned victory, Franky tries to help the Straw Hats hold off the Marines, as they figure out how to save their captain. As he was fighting off a rush attack of 200 Captains employed in the Buster Call, the Straw Hats heard a voice below them, and thus he followed them and jumped onto the Going Merry.[42] He then later helped the Straw Hats escape by using a Coup de Vent, blowing the blockade of buster call ships apart and sent the Going Merry flying through it.
As they sailed away on the Going Merry, they spot a ship ahead and are shocked that it's Iceburg and his shipwrights aboard the ship. When the Going Merry finally fell apart and the Straw Hats gave it a Viking funeral, Franky was actually seen crying and on all fours.[43]
Post-Enies Lobby Arc
Two days later, now back on Water 7, Franky visits the Straw Hats and revealed that his dream was to have a ship sail around the world built from the legendary Adam Wood. He also revealed that he used the 200,000,000 that he stole from the Straw Hats to buy the Adam Wood and said that he wanted them to sail on the ship he would build with this Adam Wood.
When Marine Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp arrived, Franky was shocked to learn that the latter is Luffy's grandfather and that revolutionary Monkey D. Dragon is his father.[44][45] Later, during the Straw Hats party, Franky joined in alongside everyone else that participated in the Enies Lobby fight.[46]
Franky would spend the next several days and nights building the Straw Hats' new ship on Scrap Island, with help from Iceburg, Yokozuna, Paulie, Peepley Lulu, and Tilestone.[47] After completing the Ship, Franky left to rebuild the Franky House.
When he received his bounty of 44,000,000, his comrades asked Luffy to take Franky with them. Despite his initial protests against leaving, and having his underwear stolen just to get him to see the Straw Hats, Franky eventually broke down and gave in to his friends heartfelt pleas to go with the Straw Hats, officially accepting Luffy's invitation to join the crew as their new Shipwright and officially boarding his ship of dreams.[48]
Franky defended 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 Burst.[49]
Thriller Bark Saga
Thriller Bark Arc
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, its 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 presence 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.[50] The skeleton's comments about the ship pleased Franky.[51] 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 moment, Franky then decided to explain the soldier dock system more thoroughly 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 Nami, Usopp, and Chopper, decided to try it out.
When the three did not 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.[52] 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.[53] 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.[54] The group then met with an old man who looked like a Zombie, Spoil. The old man asked them to defeat Gecko Moria who had stolen his shadow. Overcome by Spoil's desire to walk once more in sunlight without fear, Franky was deeply moved to tears and agreed along with the others to help Spoil and the other victims.
After Sanji and Zoro were separated from the group, more zombies assault Franky, Luffy and Robin. During the escape, Luffy got kidnapped, and before Robin and Franky could attempt to save him, they on a bridge are assaulted by a gigantic spider that acts like a monkey. Franky destroyed the bridge to flee from the general zombies. They were falling down, but then Robin makes wings of 100 arms and is flying in the air for 5 seconds. Franky used Strong Right to safely pull themselves to the other side of the bridge. Franky complained about Robin using him as a stepping-stone after she climbed up ahead of him.
Suddenly Brook appeared from the sky. After Brook fell, the gigantic spider-monkey (Tararan) came back up on the sides. Franky took an iron chain and 2 stone pillars in order to create stone nunchakus, which he hit Tararan with. Franky and Robin then became trapped in the web, but Brook defeated and purified Tararan.
After the battle, Brook explained to Robin and Franky how the Zombies were made and their weakness. Later the two saved Chopper and Usopp from being killed by the zombies and accompanied them back to the ship where they found Luffy, Zoro and Sanji sleeping. After waking them up, Franky told the whole crew about Brook's past and how he belonged to the crew that befriended Laboon. After that Luffy told the Straw Hats to prepare for a counterattack on Thriller Bark.
After aiding Brook, Franky and Zoro proceeded to assist the other members of the crew in taking down Oars. After being beaten down, he quickly recovered and teamed up with Chopper to land a devastating blow. Soon, the fight against Moria ended with the Straw Hats being victorious due to Luffy's arrival and empowerment via his new form, Nightmare Luffy, and all those who had their shadows stolen got them back.
Bartholomew Kuma, who had arrived earlier, reported this situation to the Marines and they order him to kill everyone at Thriller Bark. Instead of following his orders however, he promised to leave everyone else on the island alone if they just let him kill Luffy, who had been badly wounded in the fight against Moria. The Straw Hat crew and the rest of the island refused, so Kuma unleashed a bomb made out of air and badly wounded everyone. However, Kuma was moved by Zoro's decision to sacrifice himself for Luffy and left everyone to recover.
Franky joined the Straw Hats and the rest of the people in a celebratory party at Thriller Bark (except for Zoro, who had taken all of the damage and pain Luffy had acquired while being on Thriller Bark from his deal with Kuma, and needed to recover even longer) where Luffy finally revealed to Brook that he is friends with his friend, Laboon. Brook then unveiled a Tone Dial which had the last musical performance of the Rumbar Pirates on it, he noted that now he has new friends in the Straw Hats, he no longer needed it and would instead give this Dial to Laboon when they finally met again. Brook then asked if he could still join the Straw Hats and Luffy merely said "Ok," shocking the rest of the crew. Franky then helped Brook finally bury his Rumbar Pirate friends on Thriller Bark and made a masterpiece tombstone for them.[55]
Summit War Saga
Sabaody Archipelago Arc
After Duval orders the Flying Fish Riders to sink the Thousand Sunny using a giant anchor, Franky and Usopp utilize two of its newest features: The Chicken Voyage, which pushes the ship in reverse, and the Gaon Cannon, which obliterates the base of the Flying Fish Riders. Usopp is awed by the new feature of the Thousand Sunny, while Franky explains it uses five barrels of cola in total, two barrels for a Coup de Burst and three barrels to fire the cannon. Thus, the Gaon Cannon should be preferably used in emergencies.
The Straw Hats travel to the Sabaody Archipelago and reach Yakuriman Mangrove, seeing soap floating in the air. While looking for the mechanic, Camie gets kidnapped and is given to an auction house to be sold into slavery, Franky arrives at the Human Auctioning House with the aid of the Flying Fish Riders.
Silvers Rayleigh takes the chain off Camie's neck, allowing it to explode away from her, angering Franky as he just found the key for her release forcing him to justify his efforts by tossing the keys to the other would-be slaves, setting them free as well. Franky assists Luffy and two other Supernovas, Eustass Kid and Trafalgar Law in dealing in the Marines, and Duval arrives with his renamed-Rosy Life Riders to make a getaway. The Straw Hats return to Shakky's Rip Off Bar. Shakuyaku is shocked to see Hatchan wounded and allows them in to recover.
Meanwhile, Rayleigh reveals he was Gol D. Roger's First Mate, and that Roger was never really caught by the Marines, but gave himself up after contracting an incurable illness four years prior, prompting his crew to conquer the Grand Line and seek Crocus's aid in fighting the disease. When all was done, Roger secretly disbanded his crew a year before his death, many disappeared and never heard of again, while Roger gave himself up a year later in the final stages of his illness. The Marines claimed they captured Roger, and used his public execution in his home town Loguetown to set an example to all pirates, but Roger's death started the very "Great Pirate Age" to this day. Rayleigh was looking for Luffy based on what Shanks told him about Luffy's personality being like Roger's.[56]
As they walk away, Franky thinks about Rayleigh being the second in command of Roger's crew, for whom Tom had built the Oro Jackson, and says that he is glad he met him. Usopp asks him why he is the "elder-respecting type," and Franky retorts that he can be this way sometimes, not revealing Tom's connection with him.
Shortly afterward, the crew encounters a man who seems to be Bartholomew Kuma. Franky attempts to fight him with Franky Boxing, but "Kuma" knocks him backwards and Robin cushions his fall with a Spider Net. After fighting for a while, Zoro points out it was not the real Kuma, as it does not use his Devil Fruit. After the Pacifista injures himself with his own attack, Franky notes that he also was originally human and can thus be hurt.
The combined efforts of Nami, Sanji, Zoro and Luffy seem to finish the cyborg off only for another clone to appear, accompanied by Sentomaru. He tries to hold the second Pacifista, despite wanting to run away. Franky uses all his cola for a single Coup De Vent to send it flying back away. Then the real Kuma appears. Franky is then teleported away along with the rest of the Straw Hats, one by one.
Straw Hat Separation Adventure: Karakuri Island
Kuma sent Franky to the Future Country Baldimore on a winter island known as Karakuri Island. Upon his arrival, Franky met two local people—Kitton and his grandfather—and a cyborg dog named Taroimo.[57] Some time later, Franky was chased by the cyborg animals and ended up finding Vegapunk's abandoned laboratory.[58]
Post-War Arc
After learning of the war and Luffy's involvement in it, Franky was told by one of the locals about the story of Vegapunk and his lab. Franky teared up after hearing about Vegapunk's struggle to make the island a better place. When Franky was told of a self-destruct switch, he ranted on about why Vegapunk would put such a thing in his own lab. He then broke into the lab to get an icebreaker-ship he needed to get off the island, but he was later chased by Marines and cyborg animals inside.
The Marines were ordered to ensure that nothing in the lab got damaged, since everything in the lab is regarded as a world treasure. Franky found some blueprints for different machines that Vegapunk had wanted to build, remarking how advanced the designs were. He then came across what appeared to be a pirate symbol and touched it, but it was the very self-destruct button he had been told not to press, causing a giant explosion of the lab. His blowing up the lab later became known around the world as the Nightmare of Baldimore.[59]
The explosion did not kill Franky, but, instead, blew off his skin. He read the article of Luffy praying at Marineford and understood what Luffy was doing and saying. When the lab blew up, the explosion exposed the entrance to a second lab that Vegapunk had kept hidden. Franky went inside and started looking through different blueprints for various weapons. He then decided to live there, and put a tiger rug over his deformed face.
He had a flashback to when he built the Thousand Sunny and when Luffy asked him to join his crew. He then decided to learn all he could about different weapons to make the Thousand Sunny an even better, more powerful ship, so Luffy could make it into "the ship of dreams". The tiger rug caught fire when he got too close to a fireplace. He ran out of the lab on fire, frightening the Marines who were chasing him. This became known as the "Legend of the Sacred Burning Beast of Baldimore".[60] He apparently managed to escape the Marines sometime later and discarded the tiger rug, and worked in Vegapunk's laboratory.
↑ 8.08.1One Piece Manga and Anime — Vol. 45Chapter 435 (p. 19) and Episode 320, Franky receives a wanted poster as well after assisting the Straw Hats in attacking Enies Lobby.