Perhaps shaken back to his senses by Chopper's frantic shaking, Sanji groggily opened his eyes—only to immediately see his companions standing behind him. A crushing sense of disparity surged into his heart.
He realized, with heartbreaking clarity, that the Straw Hat Pirates were a monastery through and through—not a single beautiful female crewmate among them!
Sanji covered his face in anguish, his voice choking up.
"I'm fine… I just suddenly feel like reality is too cruel. I need a moment to process it."
"Damn it! Are you jerks here to bully my friends too?!"
Seeing this scene, Luffy—who'd already developed a grudging camaraderie with Franky after their earlier scuffle—was still on edge over the Usopp incident. His face darkened instantly as he clenched his fists and roared.
"They don't look like bad guys at all!!" Hughes and Chopper shouted anxiously at Luffy.
"Which crew are you people from, huh?"
Unlike the others who were just firing off jokes, Enel stared at Yamato and the rest with ill intent as he spoke.
His tone was sharp. Though he'd never met them before, Enel instinctively felt an indescribable sense of rejection toward Yamato—as if they were born incompatible.
"Hey! Watch your mouth when talking to these beautiful ladies, you long-eared thief!"
Sanji, who'd been half-dead just a moment ago, instantly sprang back to life like he'd been injected with adrenaline. He glared righteously at Enel.
In the next instant, he dropped into a graceful knee slide, appearing in front of Lami and the others, and performed a textbook knight's salute.
"Fair ladies, I am Sanji, the cook of the Straw Hat Pirates—"
—BAM!
Before he could finish, a slender palm slapped squarely into his face.
Ulti swatted him aside like a fly. The terrifying force sent Sanji flying like a cannonball, smashing straight into a nearby pile of scrap metal, where he got completely stuck.
"Who cares who you are."
Ulti didn't even spare the airborne Sanji a glance. Her cold eyes swept over everyone in the room.
"I just want to know—who here is Franky?"
At her words, the rest of the Straw Hat crew subconsciously turned to look behind Luffy at the pervert. Even Sanji, who'd just crawled out of the scrap heap, shot an envious glare at the man in nothing but a speedo.
"So it's you, huh? You变态大叔!" Ulti locked onto her target.
Being called a "pervert," Franky showed not the slightest shame. On the contrary, he struck a proud pose, pointing at his own nose.
"That's right! It's me! You've got good taste, little lady—SUPER good taste!"
"So the Pluton blueprints are inside your body, then."
Since this wasn't some ultra-classified mission, Ulti couldn't be bothered with roundabout tactics and laid it all out bluntly.
Franky, who'd been about to reply casually, felt alarm bells blare in his head. His expression changed drastically.
"How the hell do you know about that?!"
Heaven knew, earth knew—aside from his senior brother Iceburg, no one else should've known. For her to say it outright, Franky couldn't help but suspect that Iceburg had already met with disaster.
He made a snap decision. Raising his arm, his palm flipped open with a click, transforming into a pitch-black cannon barrel.
"Are you dogs of the World Government?! Don't even dream about it! I'd rather die than hand it over!"
The moment his words fell—
A blur swept past like a raging gale.
Ulti, who'd been standing dozens of meters away, appeared before Franky in the blink of an eye, ghostlike.
Before anyone could even react—Franky included—a fist punched clean through the steel armor of his chest without the slightest resistance.
The sudden, bloody turn of events drained all color from the Straw Hats' faces. Even Sanji dropped his lovestruck expression, his gaze turning deadly serious.
With surgical precision, Ulti shattered the chest armor, reached inside, and pulled out the Pluton blueprints.
Ignoring Franky as he collapsed to the ground in utter disbelief, she smugly shook the spoils in her hand and turned to leave.
"Hey… Franky? …You bastard!!!"
—WHOOSH!
A sharp tearing sound ripped through the air behind her.
In the instant her Observation Haki caught the attack's trajectory, Ulti tilted her body slightly, effortlessly dodging a rubbery fist that had stretched out and come screaming toward her at high speed.
"That pervert isn't even with you guys, is he?!"
Ulti's short temper flared instantly as she glared wide-eyed.
"What—do you want to fight or something?!"
"Who says he's not with us! He's my friend!"
Luffy glared right back, fury blazing in his eyes.
"You bastard—I'm gonna punch you flying!"
Though they'd fought earlier over Usopp, they'd talked it out afterward. Luffy had especially loved Franky's flashy mechanical displays—he'd already started thinking of the pervert as a friend, even toying with the idea of inviting him onto the crew.
Luffy might be carefree and simple-minded most of the time, but he had two absolute red lines:
One—hurting his crewmates.
Two—making someone he acknowledged as a friend bleed or cry!
"Chopper!"
"I'm on it!"
At Luffy's furious shout, the ship's doctor Chopper rushed to Franky's side, fumbling as he examined him. His voice soon turned tearful.
"He's a cyborg! How am I supposed to treat this?! But… it looks like only the mechanical parts were damaged. His life should be safe."
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