A certain Winter Island on the Grand Line, Baljima, known as the Future Country on Mechanical Island, is located in a severely cold climate. This island is covered with a steel jungle and is the hometown of Vegapunk, as well as the place where Franky was sent flying by Kuma.
Once York confirmed her location, the nearby hometown became her destination.
This place preserves the research documents from Vegapunk's youth, with a large amount of literature sealed within the laboratory. The laboratory has a complete system, so by returning here, she could repair her body in a short time.
Although this patchwork body could be used, its body functions were very poor, and she couldn't even taste food.
However, when she arrived here smoothly, she was shocked by the sight.
"No way, that woman attacked here too? There's nothing left at all..."
These avatars shared Vegapunk's memories. In York's perception, this place should have been a huge laboratory, but the one in front of her was a very broken laboratory.
A very large area had become dilapidated, and even the main door was temporarily sealed with boards.
It seemed like an explosion had occurred here, causing the laboratory to be blown inside out from within.
"This seems like the effect of the self-destruct device left behind... What happened here?"
She remembered that Vegapunk had left a very powerful self-destruct device here, to deter some ill-intent persons. The devastation here was as bad as Aeghede, indicating a very serious event had occurred during the time she was away.
"The Navy only said something happened here, but they didn't say it was this big of a deal..."
Just then, the patrolling Navy in the distance seemed to have spotted York. Upon seeing her broken mechanical body, they didn't say anything and immediately opened fire on her.
"The intruder has returned! Catch him!"
"The laboratory's already blown up, no need to hold back anymore, open fire with everything we've got!"
York, who had just landed, was directly faced with a Navy attack, and the root of all this had to be traced back to what Franky did back then.
Before receiving Luffy's invitation for an exclusive dispatch based on suggestions from Usopp, Franky's sole focus was to find a ship to leave here. However, Baljima's climate was very peculiar; the severe cold made the sea covered with floating ice, and ordinary ships couldn't pass through.
Only professional icebreaker ships could navigate these waters, and there would only be one ship scheduled to appear here each month. Besides that, the only other hope of passage would be with Navy warships that occasionally appeared.
Given the situation back then, building a ship was certainly not feasible in time. Fortunately, Franky heard some new information.
He had heard from local people he was familiar with that there was an early research-developed icebreaker ship inside Vegapunk's laboratory and he set his sights on it, wanting to use it to leave Baljima.
But shortly after entering, Franky accidentally triggered the laboratory's self-destruct switch, causing a massive explosion that destroyed a large area.
While the Navy did report this incident to the Headquarter and it reached Vegapunk's ears, the message changed during transmission. Vegapunk only knew something happened here but didn't know it was such a big incident.
This led to York feeling very confused now, unable to make sense of the situation.
In his youth, Vegapunk wanted to change the country's extreme cold by creating a geothermal device covering the whole island but ultimately failed. The device left behind was destroyed in the explosion triggered by Franky, an event referred to as "Nightmare of the Future Country Baljima".
The Modified People's identity made Franky survive the explosion, but after the blast, he was blown to the extent of being unrecognizable; all synthetic skin was destroyed, exposing the modified body underneath, making him look like a mechanical monster.
The Navy didn't expect Franky to still be inside the laboratory; due to oversight, he was ignored beneath their noses.
So Franky explored the remaining parts of the laboratory again, found some of Vegapunk's leftover weapon-type inventions documents, and, to not scare others, used the tiger skin he found in the laboratory as a cover, which accidentally caught fire when he tried to warm himself by the stove.
In a panic, he ran out of the laboratory draped in the burning tiger skin, encountering Navy patrols outside. His frightening appearance scared them half to death, thus leaving behind a legend of a flaming guardian beast in Baljima.
The broken robot and charred marks made York look exactly like that intruder they were searching for, leading to the Navy pursuit of her.
"You bastards! I'm Vegapunk! Stop immediately and contact the Five Elders for me; I'm going to accuse you!"
"Vegapunk is already dead! How dare you impersonate him without checking the newspaper! Stop right there!"
"Damn it... if not for this body..."
This patchwork body could move smoothly, which already took York considerable effort, with none of the original inventions here. Otherwise, she wouldn't have fallen into such a plight.
During the chase, even some modified animals joined the hunt. Those were early inventions of Vegapunk, modifying and controlling animals to replace residents' labor, considered the predecessors of the Mechanical Sea Beast Legion.
In terms of creation authority, Vegapunk wasn't competent, and at this moment, York had no way to control those things.
During the chase, York ran into the mountains and forests nearby, and the Navy and beasts kept relentlessly pursuing her. As she was pondering how to shake these people off, a pair of big hands reached out from behind a tree and grabbed her.
...
"It's this place again. Last time, we couldn't find anyone either; what on earth is going on?!"
"Doesn't matter, that monster's whereabouts have been exposed, staying here we'll surely catch this guy."
After a fruitless search, the Navy reluctantly left. Yet hidden under the thick ice and snow was a very simple laboratory.
"Yo, I just saved you. Don't you have anything to say?"
The one who had pulled York over was none other than Franky, hiding here. After receiving Luffy's message, he began researching the items left behind by Vegapunk and made some progress.
Seeing the Navy chasing York, he lent her a hand.
"Say something? Your thieving skills are quite competent, managing to create these things."
Inspecting the blueprints in this hideout, York seemed to have a new plan.
"Thief? Do you even listen to yourself, you damned robot? I saved you, you know."
Franky enunciated each word, the forepart of his reformed giant arm stretching out a small hand, presenting York with a double middle-finger gesture.
"Isn't that so? These blueprints were left behind by me in my younger days. Didn't you steal them?"
"What nonsense are you saying? These were Vegapunk's youth-era..."
"Exactly, I am Vegapunk!"
"What?!"