A certain Winter Island in the Grand Line.
Baldimore, the Future Country is also known as Mechanical Island. This island is located in a frigid climate, and is covered with steel jungles. It is the hometown of Vegapunk and also the place where Franky was sent flying by Kuma.
After York confirmed her location, the nearby hometown became her destination.
This place holds research data from Vegapunk's youth, with a large number of documents sealed away in the lab. The lab also has a fully functional system, so if she returns here, she can repair her body in a short amount of time.
Although this body, cobbled together from cheap parts, is usable, its physical functions were extremely poor. She could no longer even taste food.
But when she finally arrived, the sight before her left her stunned.
"No way… did that woman attack this place too? There's nothing left at all…"
These satellites shared Vegapunk's memories. In York's understanding, this should have been a massive laboratory, yet what appeared before her eyes was a very dilapidated lab.
A large area had been destroyed, and even the gate was temporarily sealed with wooden boards.
It looked like a big explosion had occurred here, causing the laboratory to be blown up from the inside out.
"This looks like the effect of that self-destruct device he left behind… What on earth happened here?"
She remembered that Vegapunk had left a powerful self-destruct device here, meant to deter ill-intentioned people. The devastation here was no less severe than on Egghead. Judging by the looks of it, something terrible must have happened during her absence.
"Marines only said an accident happened here, but didn't mention it was this serious…"
At that moment, the Marines patrolling in the distance seemed to notice York. Upon seeing her battered mechanical body, they said nothing and immediately unleashed a barrage of fire at her.
"That intruder is back again! Capture him!"
"The research facility has already been blown up. No need to hold back, open fire with everything you've got!"
York, who had only just landed, was immediately met with Marines' attack. And the root of all this could be traced back to Franky.
Before receiving the news that was spread by Luffy in a special interview as suggested by Hercules, Franky had been focused solely on finding a ship to leave this place. But Baldimore's climate was extremely peculiar. The severe cold filled the sea with floating ice, making it impassable for ordinary ships.
Only specialized icebreakers could sail these waters. Here, only one ship appeared regularly once a month, and besides that, the only other option was to rely on a warship that occasionally appeared here.
Given the circumstances back then, building a ship himself was impossible. Fortunately, Franky heard some new information.
From locals he knew, he learned that inside Vegapunk's laboratory was an icebreaker developed in earlier years. Fixating on it, he planned to use that ship to escape Baldimore.
But not long after entering, Franky mistakenly pushed the laboratory's self-destruct switch, causing a massive explosion that destroyed a vast area.
Though the Marines reported the incident to headquarters and the news eventually reached Vegapunk, details changed along the way. Vegapunk only knew something had happened, but not that it was this catastrophic.
This was why York was now utterly confused, unable to figure out the situation.
In his youth, Vegapunk had attempted to change the country's harsh cold by creating an in-ground heating system that covered the entire island. But in the end, he failed. The unfinished system was destroyed in the explosion caused by Franky, and the incident came to be known as the "Nightmare of Baldimore."
Because of his cyborg body, Franky did not die in the explosion. However, after the explosion, Franky was so severely damaged that his artificial skin was completely destroyed, exposing the modified body beneath, making him look like a mechanical frankenstein.
The Marines did not expect Franky to still be inside the laboratory, and though he was right under their nose, they overlooked him.
Thus, Franky continued exploring the remaining parts of the laboratory, where he found Vegapunk's leftover documents on weapon inventions. To avoid frightening others, he covered himself with a tiger pelt he had found in the lab, but when warming himself by a fire, it was accidentally set ablaze by the furnace.
In a panic, wrapped in the burning tiger pelt, he fled the laboratory and ran into the patrolling Marines outside. His terrifying appearance scared them half to death, leaving behind in Baldimore the legend of a sacred burning beast.
A broken-down robot, charred burn marks. At this moment, York looked exactly like the intruder they had been searching for, which ultimately led to the Marines chasing after her.
"You b*stards! I am Vegapunk! Stop at once! Contact the Five Elders, I want to lodge a complaint against you!"
"Vegapunk is already dead! You want to impersonate him? Haven't you read the newspapers? Stop right there!"
"Damn it… if not for this body…"
Just being able to move this cobbled-together body smoothly was already costing York a great deal of effort. She didn't have any of the original inventions, otherwise she wouldn't have ended up in this state.
As the chase went on, even some modified animals joined the pursuit. Those were among Vegapunk's early inventions, modified and controlled animals meant to replace human labor, and considered the predecessors of the mechanical sea beast corps.
When it came to authority over creations, Vegapunk had always been poor at it, and now York had no means of controlling these things.
Relentlessly pursued by the Marines and the beasts, York ran into the nearby forest. Just as she was wondering how to shake them off, a pair of large hands suddenly stretched out from behind a tree and pulled her over.
"Again here… last time too, he vanished around this area. What the hell is going on?!"
"Doesn't matter. That monster's whereabouts have been exposed. If we guard here, we'll catch him sooner or later."
After a fruitless search, the Marines left angrily, but hidden under the thick ice and snow was a very crude laboratory.
"Yo, I just saved you, don't you think you should say something?"
The one who had just pulled York over was none other than Franky, who was hiding here. After receiving Luffy's message, he had begun studying the things Vegapunk left behind and had already made some progress.
Seeing the Marines chasing York, he lent a hand and helped her out.
"Say something? Thief, you are quite skilled; you actually managed to create these things."
Glancing at the blueprints inside this hideout, York seemed to form a new idea.
"Thief? Damn robot, do you even hear yourself? It was me who saved you!"
Franky said each word firmly, and from the front end of his rebuilt massive arm, a smaller hand extended, giving York a double middle-finger gesture.
"Isn't that so? These blueprints were all left behind by me when I was young, so aren't you the one who stole them?"
"What nonsense are you spouting? These are from when Vegapunk was young…."
"That's right. I am Vegapunk!"
"What?!"
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