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The group of Straw Hats at the sea train station had to wait a bit for their ride to arrive.. While the sea train was fast, it would take some time to get here.
In the meantime Sparky and Coby were able to befriend Chimney and her cat —which was actually a rabbit— Gonbei. Kokoro was still cautious of the group, but she seemed a bit more eased now. Mainly after Sanji brought in some snacks for the group.
Soon the sea train arrived and unlike the other sea train, this one was completely white in design, with the marine and world government symbol on it.
The train also had only three compartments in it, and because of this it was also very fast, unlike the other trains. It was also operated fully by marines and when they saw the straw hats they seemed to be a bit on guard.
Even though the Straw hats had a good reputation they were also pirates so the marines by nature were cautious of them. Still, not all of them had glares, some were genuinely curious about the group. Many of the marines did respect Luffy for what he did back in G-3 base and Alabasta, and with his relation with Garp, he was quite famous.
The door of the sea trained opened and the straw hats hopped on board. But they were surprised by what they saw.
"Ho, now isn't this just a grand welcome," Luffy said while crossing his arms. Even though he was calm on the outside, on the inside he was a bit worried. "Why did the Navy HQ send an Admiral to receive me?"
"Hm?" Kizaru looked up from his fashion magazine, yawning as he looked at Luffy and his group, before returning back to reading his magazine.
Luffy's brow twitched, "Oi, at least answer me."
Kizaru sighed, "I'm just doing my job," he said as he shrugged, returning back to reading his fashion magazine.
"He's a slow one, isn't he," Sparky said from Luffy's shoulder.
Kizaru blinked slowly, before looking at Sparky, and tilting his head "A talking monkey," he pointed at before slowly moving his finger to Luffy, "On top of another Monkey? How does that work?"
"You are called the Yellow Monkey? How does that work?"
"Uh, so many monkeys?" Kizaru nodded before slowly returning back to reading his magazine.
Luffy looked back to his crewmates and shrugged it seemed they were stuck with him.
The marines nearby escorted his group to seats in the same compartment. It was big enough for all of them, but they were a bit on guard with having an admiral on board.
Coby's first impression of meeting an admiral was… slow.
.
"So you want me to check out your ship, eh?" Franky asked, "That's SUPER awesome!" He said doing the pose, before sitting down and leaning in to make eye contact with the pirates, "But it will cost a pretty penny!"
Now Franky, Usopp and Gin were sitting in his makeshift office. Usopp and Gin were also there in their disguises. Sporting the name Sogeking and Gintaro with pride. Like them the square sisters were also with them, standing behind Franky while they crossed their arms cooly.
"How expensive are we talking here?" Gin asked, but Usopp stopped him.
"Gintaro… Gintaro… Gintaro… money isn't an issue when it comes to our ship," Usopp said, making a fist of passion, "Our love for the ship knows no bounds! So money, don't worry about money but we would like you to work on our ship, so that the Going Merry can sail without any issue."
Of course, unlike them, the Going Merry wasn't that famous so she didn't need a name change, only the appearance change would do.
Gin looked at Usopp as if he was mad. He really wanted to point out that Nami might literally kill him if he spent money unwisely. But then he heard something as he moved his head to the side.
Franky was shedding emotional manly tears hearing Usopp's declaration, along with the square sisters.
'Huh, maybe Usopp's onto something,' Gin thought
"Such love and comradery for one's ship…" he said, grabbing Usopp's arms, "I have to know the name of a man like yours!"
"My name is Sogeking, hailing from the land of snipers. I'm the best sniper in the world. And I'm the captain!" Usopp said before gesturing to his side, "And this is Gintaro, he's the best… loyal mate in the world? Yes, that. And he's my Vice-Captain."
Gin sighed, but nodded, "Our crew is relatively new. So you might have not heard it."
Usopp carried on with passion, "But don't worry, one day our names will be on the front page of newspapers, with people cheering on our behalf."
Franky nodded as he crossed his arms, "I often say, talk is cheap. But you guys have a SUPPPEERR burning manly passion in you. And that makes me believe otherwise." He said with his —weird & iconic— pose. "But I'm a bit curious… why do you want me to check out your ship? If money isn't an issue, then you could have gone to Galley-La company. They also have amazing shipwrights there, well of course not SUPPEER as me, but still…"
"That might be true… But someone recommended you, and he was my close friend. I can't tell you his name, but you once worked on his ship to set up your inventions. And he really praised your work, and we also did some research."
Franky raised an eyebrow as he leaned in, but didn't interrupt.
"You have quite the fame back in Auction Island for your inventions and your shipwright skills. So we want you to help us out… and maybe later on, we might offer you something that you won't be able to refuse…"
"Now, I'm hooked." Franky grinned, leaning back on his chair. He did visit Auction Island from time to time, he even had plans to buy the recent Adam wood from there. "But I also am curious about your group… haven't heard of you or anything."
——