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Franky rubbed his chin, "I can only give you guys a ten percent discount… but I want my money upfront."
"No…" This time it was surprisingly Anchor who stopped Franky, "Most shipwrights take their payment after working. And you are asking for four times more, so, why do we have to pay beforehand?"
Cricket also chimed in, "Yeah, how would we even know if your work is good or not? You might as well try to run away with our money."
Nami nodded vigorously at his side. Usopp face-palmed himself.
"What? Listen here, bub. No one questions my skills," Franky said, "And what would you even know about shipwright, old man."
Popeye's brow twitched, the disguise he was wearing made him look old, but he didn't appreciate it, "I am not a shipwright, but I did work on our ship along with Uso… I mean our captain. Also, I'm a smith, and as a smith. I take pride in building my stuff for passion… more than just building stuff for money."
Cricket also crossed his arms and nodded, "I know a bit about modifying ships myself, and what you are asking is just too much…" Nami at her side also nodded along. "That's not manly at all…"
"Yeah, a true man would work for passion," Gin added, making Usopp look at him questionably. They were trying to recruit him here, not gaslight him.
"What he said." Popeye nodded, "Are you really a man if you do it for money?"
"What? I'm SUPER manly!" Franky defended, looking at Popeye, and Cricket, "But I think you have a problem with me. Wanna settle this man-to-man? I ain't afraid of no one. Especially not you, old man."
Popeye didn't back down, taking his pipe down from his mouth, "Bring it."
"Guys… guys we don't have to do this…" Usopp tried defusing the situation. But Gin stopped him, he had a knowing grin behind his helmet.
But Franky ignored him, "Fine if you win, I will charge the normal amount."
Anchor raised an eyebrow, "And you want nothing in return?"
"Insulting you would be enough, old man."
Anchor's brow twitched, "I'm gonna enjoy this…" he said, cracking his knuckles, while Franky did the same.
"Wait!" Usopp said, stopping right in the middle, "No fighting… You guys will rip each other apart. But if you are going to settle this like men. Then do it the right way."
Both Anchor and Franky looked at him.
"Arm wrestling," Usopp suggested, flexing his arms, which had only a bit of muscle. While Usopp did get strong, his muscles weren't that visible. He was what some would call a hard gainer. "The only way to settle things between real men."
"Fine," Franky said, "Let's see if you can beat me in arm wrestling, old man. I'll crush you with my arms. No one has ever beat me in arm-wrestling." He finished showing off his oversized forearms.
Popeye looked at Franky and shook his head, also flexing his own oversized forearms, "Sure thing. Just don't whine after you lose."
Franky snorted, "If I lose, I might as well join the stupid crew. And that ain't happening."
"Yeah, Big Bro Franky! You can do it," The square sisters said from the side. They were absent for a while, but seemed they had listened in for most of the argument. The members of the Franky family also cheered along.
A bench was set up, and both men stood by their side as the arm wrestling match began.
And it was easy to say that Franky didn't even stand a chance. Not by a long shot, even with his cybernetic enhancements he lost to Popeye in the arm-wrestling match.
Franky was on the floor looking at his arms, "I… I lost?"
Popeye smirked, wondering why Franky's arm felt weird, but he didn't question it.
Franky snapped his head at him, "Best out of three!"
Anchor smirked, "Sure."
And Franky lost again. "I-I refuse to believe this?"
"Heh, it's not about that anymore," Nami said, walking up to him, "Now you will charge us the normal price. Deal?"
Franky grumbled, "Fine…"
.
Kaku, Blueno and Kalifa looked at the scene between the pirate group and Franky, wondering if their info on Franky having the blueprint was true or not.
But it didn't matter, things were almost set up, and the show was about to start.
.
By the time the sea train reached Navy HQ, an odd scene was playing out inside the sea train.
"Hey, old man, pass me the sault," Luffy said, blowing his food, while eating the hot noodles.
"Huh, new pirates these days, no manners," Kizaru said as he passed the sault while chowing down on the udon noodles. "Ho~~ who knew you could make cup noodles so good, Sanji-kun?"
"I did! That's why I made him my chef," Luffy butted in, "By the way, you should try the chicken toppings, they taste quite good with the broth."
Sanji just shook his head as he cooked with limited ingredients. Still, it was better than eating cup noodles.
"Oh, thank you," Kizaru said, while taking some of the suggested toppings.
"Oi why is she getting more meat than me?" Zoro complained.
"I don't know what you are saying, mosshead."
"Sparky, stop stealing my food, dang it!"
"I don't know what you are saying Coby?"
The other marines in the sea train looked weirdly at the scene, an admiral eating noodles with a pirate crew. But then again, they were a bit jealous that only the admiral was getting food, not them.
Before long the sea train reached its final destination and it was already morning by then. And the straw hats were at Marineford, the Marine HQ.
——