Chapter 221: The Excited Franky
Mechs hold an irresistible pull for any boy worth his salt, and Franky had been dreaming of piloting armor since he was small. He never imagined it would actually happen.
The moment his fingerprint made contact, the Energy Core recognized him as its master. A digitized chime sounded in his mind, clear and crisp.
*Ding! Mech synchronization ready. Initiate fusion?*
"Fuse!"
There was no hesitation. The Energy Core in his palm dissolved into light and sank into his chest. And then the Optimus Prime mech, which had been no taller than a blade's width in its compact form, erupted outward, swelling from a modest figure to a towering machine five or six meters in height. Franky transformed into a pulse of energy and shot straight into the cockpit.
"Fusion complete!"
He found himself seated at the center of a vast control system, surrounded by panels and displays and the hum of enormous power. For a long moment, he couldn't speak.
"This is... super cool!"
He stared at the reflection of his new form in every surface around him, eyes practically sparkling. He even struck a pose inside the cockpit, something unnecessarily dramatic that he'd clearly been saving for exactly this occasion.
Robin and Lily, watching from the deck, exchanged a glance.
"It's just a hunk of metal," Lily murmured.
Robin tilted her head, studying the enormous machine with calm, scholarly detachment. "I don't quite understand the appeal either."
Then again, neither of them was expected to. Boys and their machines occupied a corner of the heart that simply didn't translate. It was like trying to explain to a child who grew up loving dolls why someone else would rather take apart a toy engine. And Amon, for his part, understood completely.
"Franky," he called up. "Give it a test run. Let's see what it can do."
"With pleasure, boss!"
Franky's voice came booming out of the mech's speakers, full of barely restrained excitement. His hands flew across the controls.
"Energy Cannon, fire!"
The shoulder mounts of the Optimus Prime frame swiveled open, two compact launch platforms rising into position. On the horizon, a massive Sea King had surfaced, drawn perhaps by the noise or the ship's wake. Franky locked on and pulled the trigger.
The twin rounds launched with a sharp crack, streaking across the water and slamming into the creature dead center.
*Boom.*
The impact sent a shockwave rolling outward across the sea. On the ship, no one so much as rocked. But Franky's escort vessels, positioned farther out, weren't so lucky. Several were flipped clean over by the surge of displaced water.
Franky stared. His mouth fell open even from inside the cockpit.
"That... that's insane..."
The recoil alone had capsized ships. He could barely imagine what a direct hit felt like from the other end. The shock only lasted a moment before pure, unadulterated joy took over. The more powerful this mech was, the more powerful he was. And he was its master.
"Besides the Energy Cannon, there's a machine gun suite you can experiment with later," Amon said, watching with quiet satisfaction. He gave the mech a moment more before pulling his attention back to business. "But that's not everything. I've got one more item for you."
The mech dissolved in a flash of light and Franky reappeared on deck, still wide-eyed. "There's more?!"
"The last one isn't much use to you directly," Amon said, with a small, knowing smile. "But for your teacher... I think it'll mean a great deal. Take a look and you'll understand."
He handed over a rolled sheet of paper. Amon didn't know enough about sea locomotive engineering to explain it properly, so he figured it was better to just let Franky see for himself. A craftsman would recognize craftsmanship.
Franky unfurled the document with curious hands. "Some kind of blueprint...?"
At first glance, it seemed ordinary enough. Then his eyes adjusted to the scale of what he was actually reading, and everything in him went still.
"This... this is a rail design schematic. For a sea train."
His voice had dropped to barely a whisper.
To Franky himself, the document was a curiosity. To Tom, his teacher, it was nothing short of a miracle. Tom had been working on the sea train for years, a project that promised to connect Water Seven to the wider world. But the rail system had always been the wall he couldn't climb. Without a solution to that problem, the entire vision stalled, month after month, year after year.
And the city wasn't waiting. Water Seven's sea level climbed a little higher every year, the slow creep of the water gods' influence. If nothing changed, eventually the city would have no choice but to scatter, its people driven off the island they'd built their lives around.
This blueprint could change all of that.
"Well?" Amon asked. "Satisfied?"
Franky looked up. His eyes were glassy. "I didn't think you could roll something like this out of those Jars," he said, voice rough. "When my teacher sees this..."
He trailed off. There were no words large enough for what he was feeling.
Tom was more than a teacher to Franky. He was the closest thing to a father the man had ever known. Tom had been convicted years ago for building the Pirate King's ship, a death sentence deferred only because of his sea train proposal. The courts had agreed to suspend judgment, with one condition: if Tom could actually build a working sea train that connected Water Seven to the world, his crimes would be forgiven. His life would be his own.
This schematic was a piece of that. A piece of Tom's life.
"Mr Amon," Franky said quietly. "I want to take this to him right now. I'm sorry to cut and run like this."
"Go," Amon said. "I understand."
He meant it. He knew the weight behind what Franky was carrying under that arm, and honestly, sending Franky back to Water Seven with something this significant wasn't a bad thing for business either. Word would travel fast.
Franky straightened up, voice thick with conviction. "If this blueprint is everything it looks like, you'll be the greatest helper this city has ever had."
It wasn't an exaggeration. Water Seven's slow drowning was an open wound, and the sea train was the only medicine anyone had found. For the people who lived there, it was survival.
No wonder Franky's hands were still trembling slightly as he tucked the schematic carefully inside his coat.